Bail laws
John PESUTTO (Hawthorn – Leader of the Opposition) (14:10): My question is to the Premier. Following a home invasion, Dr Ash Gordon, a 33-year-old doctor, was brutally stabbed to death by two teens, one of whom was on bail at that time. His grieving family are in the gallery today. Ash is one of many victims of the government’s decision to weaken bail laws. When will the Premier reverse Labor’s disastrous policy to weaken bail laws?
Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:10): In answering the Leader of the Opposition’s question can I acknowledge the family of Dr Ash Gordon who are in attendance today and extend my condolences to the family. It was a terrible and tragic loss for that family. They are understandably grieving, and during that period of grieving I want to acknowledge the number of occasions and meetings that they have had where they have engaged with the Attorney-General on questions around how we can strengthen bail and how we can strengthen knife laws in this state. I want to thank them for, during that period of time, being part of those discussions in their moments of deep distress and grief.
That is why today in the Parliament we have introduced new powers for Victoria Police to get more knives off the streets and give police more powers to search people with knives. This is in response to listening to families like the Gordon family but also listening to the advice of Victoria Police about what additional –
John Pesutto: On a point of order, Speaker, on relevance, can you draw the Premier back to bail?
The SPEAKER: The Premier was being relevant to the question that was asked, but I do ask the Premier to be mindful of the question.
Jacinta ALLAN: I was going to absolutely come to the question of bail, but I was also addressing something that I know has been an important issue that has been raised by the family with the Attorney-General and I also believe the Minister for Police. Those laws today that we have introduced have been in response to those discussions and the request from Victoria Police. On the issue of bail, this year, in response to the government putting a package of stronger youth justice reforms, the Parliament has passed that package that includes stronger bail provisions – bail provisions that the opposition opposed during the passage of that bill in the Parliament.
John PESUTTO (Hawthorn – Leader of the Opposition) (14:13): Having regard to the Premier’s comments just then that supposedly stronger bail laws have been introduced, a 14-year-old accused of a three-day crime spree was recently bailed for the 50th time. A Victoria Police officer who opposed bail told a Children’s Court that:
Anyone who keeps doing this should not be on the streets …
Why is the Premier unable to keep Victorians safe?
Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:13): In answering the Leader of the Opposition’s question, we have moved to give Victoria Police additional powers through the passage of the Youth Justice Act that I referred to. That includes stronger bail provisions that are applied by the courts – stronger bail provisions that I again remind the Leader of the Opposition he and his party opposed.