Thursday, 20 June 2024

Questions without notice and ministers statements

Youth justice system

Evan MULHOLLAND (Northern Metropolitan) (12:01): (573) My question is for the Minister for Youth Justice. Minister, youth crime continues to rise at unprecedented levels in Victoria, up 20 per cent in the last year according to figures released today. Many of these crimes committed by young offenders involve violence, including the death of innocent victims defending their own homes. In 2017 the Labor government commissioned a review into Victoria’s youth justice system – a detailed report that made many recommendations to keep Victoria safe and to assist rehabilitation of young offenders. Why has the Labor government taken seven years to act when crimes by young offenders have continued to get more violent across the state?

Enver ERDOGAN (Northern Metropolitan – Minister for Corrections, Minister for Youth Justice, Minister for Victim Support) (12:02): I thank Mr Mulholland for his question and his interest in our youth justice system. I think it is a timely reminder of the work that our government has done over that period, because we have not wasted a single day. There has been continual improvement to our youth justice system since 2017 and in particular since the system we inherited in 2014, whether it be investments in infrastructure, whether it be investments in the staff, whether it be investments out in the community. A lot of that is in community programs before young people come into contact with the youth justice system. I have been very clear: we do not want to see any young person make contact with the criminal justice system. That is why many of our government’s investments have been in education, in health, in early childhood and in free TAFE to give vocational training to young people so they can get a job and live productive lives.

As Minister for Youth Justice I was very proud to announce our Youth Justice Bill this week. It is a significant piece of reform. It is about modernising the system. It is the most significant reform to the youth justice system in three decades, and I look forward to debating that bill once it is before the house after it, hopefully, passes in the other place and we get an opportunity to discuss it in this chamber. I look forward to a productive discussion with everyone in this chamber. But what I will say is that the heart of those reforms is community safety. That is the heart of those reforms. It is about ensuring that we strike the right balance between short-term and long-term community safety.

You made a point about the statistics today; I think if you pay attention to statistics you will still see that what we are seeing is a return to prepandemic levels and youth offending is still below that of New South Wales. So the most comparable state is New South Wales, and our youth offending statistics are lower than New South Wales.

But our bill is about doing better. We are not going to waste another moment, and we are going to get on with the job. I will look forward to debating and passing those reforms so we can make even further improvements to our youth justice system.

Evan MULHOLLAND (Northern Metropolitan) (12:04): Minister, isn’t it a fact that we have a youth justice crisis, a youth crime crisis, decade-high violent crimes committed by young people and a revolving door of young criminals on the streets and in our homes because you and your colleagues have failed to address this very serious issue and as a result you are putting the safety of the Victorian community at risk?

Enver ERDOGAN (Northern Metropolitan – Minister for Corrections, Minister for Youth Justice, Minister for Victim Support) (12:04): I thank Mr Mulholland for his supplementary question. I think we have been very up-front. As I said in my substantive, we want to see young people avoid contact with the criminal justice system. That is why many of the investments we make are for before young people come into our system, because that is where they should be. They should be out in the community with their families, in school. That is where we want to see young children, and that is what our bill is about doing. Community safety is at the heart of these reforms – short-term and long-term safety. Short-term – for some young people that we do give opportunities to they get an opportunity to participate in our programs. We want to see a difference. We want to address the underlying behaviours they show. Many of the young people in our system have traumatic upbringings themselves. They come from disadvantaged backgrounds. As a system –

Members interjecting.

Enver ERDOGAN: I think let us not try and demonise young people. I think a lot of young people have different passages into the criminal justice system. When they make it into our system, our goal is to turn their lives around, understanding that many of the young people that make contact with the criminal justice system will be back out in the community. That is why we need to make sure we get it right – (Time expired)