Tuesday, 4 February 2025

Youth justice system

Michael O’BRIEN (Malvern) (14:36): My question is to the Premier. In the 10 months since the government first announced the ankle bracelet monitoring trial for youth offenders, how many have been fitted?

Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:37): I thank the Shadow Attorney-General for the opportunity to remind the house that this was an initiative he voted against, that he and his colleagues voted against, when we put this to the Parliament. And yes, the Shadow Attorney-General is correct: we did announce this 10 months ago; but guess what you need to do once you announce it – you have to put legislation through the Parliament.

Sam Groth interjected.

Jacinta ALLAN: I know you are still new to the place, member for Nepean. You actually have to put legislation through the Parliament first before it becomes a law. This is providing factual information, Manager of Opposition Business.

Bridget Vallence: On a point of order, Speaker, it was a very narrow question: how many have been fitted? On relevance, I would ask you to ask the Premier to come back to answering that very narrow question.

The SPEAKER: Order! Leader of the House, on the point of order.

Mary-Anne Thomas: There is no point of order, Speaker. The Manager of Opposition Business was unable to articulate what her point of order is, so I ask that you rule her out of order. The Premier was being entirely relevant to the question that was asked, and not only that – she was meeting all the requirements of answering a question in this place.

The SPEAKER: Order! The Premier was giving context to her answer, but I do ask the Premier to be mindful that it was a very narrow question.

Jacinta ALLAN: It was, and I am answering it directly because in terms of when we announced this last year, the journey that this initiative has been on –

Sam Groth interjected.

The SPEAKER: The member for Nepean will leave the chamber for half an hour.

Member for Nepean withdrew from chamber.

David Southwick interjected.

The SPEAKER: The member for Caulfield will find this reminiscent of a time previous.

Bridget Vallence interjected.

The SPEAKER: The Leader of the House is also warned. Premier.

Tim Richardson interjected.

The SPEAKER: The member for Mordialloc can leave the chamber for an hour. The Premier to continue.

Member for Mordialloc withdrew from chamber.

Jacinta ALLAN: The picture tells the story. In terms of the implementation of the rollout of electronic monitoring in this state, remembering of course that this was an initiative the Liberal Party opposed, following the passing of the legislation late last year work has been undertaken by the Department of Justice in partnership with the courts and Victoria Police to implement the technology but also to implement the supervision regime, because this is about addressing the issue of repeat youth offending. And this will be implemented in coming months.

Michael O’Brien: On a point of order, Speaker, it was a very narrow question. I mean, the number may be as low as 22; I do not know.

The SPEAKER: There is no point of order. Has the Premier concluded her answer?

Jacinta ALLAN: Yes.

Michael O’BRIEN (Malvern) (14:40): My supplementary question is to the Premier. Ten months ago the government announced a trial of ankle bracelet monitoring. Last week the Premier said on radio:

I also want to flag we are rolling out this year electronic monitoring on some of these youth offenders …

In the past year alone there have been 23,810 youth criminal incidents. Why is it taking up to two years to roll this trial out?

Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:41): We understood why we had to explain to the member for Nepean how the law and legislation works. I did not think we would have to explain this to a former Attorney-General. The legislation needed to pass Parliament first, and then we had to reach its commencement date.

Michael O’Brien interjected.

Jacinta ALLAN: Oh, sorry – very much. Not that one. My apologies. You used to be at the bar, mate, so I would have thought you would understand the law.

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! The Premier will resume her seat.

Michael O’Brien interjected.

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Malvern! And I have never been at the bar.

Bridget Vallence: On a point of order, Speaker, again, former Speaker Brooks ruled that it is unnecessary and unrequired to attack the members of the opposition.

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Malvern and the Premier! The Leader of the House will come to order. There is no point of order.

Jacinta ALLAN: This is a serious matter, and I apologise for promoting the member for Malvern inadvertently. We needed the law to pass the Parliament. The law was opposed by the Liberal Party. It has now commenced. The technology and supervision framework is being put together right now, and this will be implemented in coming months.