Tuesday, 18 March 2025

 Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:06): I want to see every young Victorian do well in life – see them go to school, find a job, stay out of trouble and make a great contribution to our state ‍– which is why we are investing in record levels in our school system, in our TAFE system, with free TAFE, keeping TAFEs open, not closing them like those opposite, and of course having a pipeline of jobs, whether it is in infrastructure, in energy or in the social sector, so young people can go on and make a productive contribution to our state. But we do know that there are a group of young people in our state who frankly have had more than enough time. They are offenders who think that their actions do not have consequences, and we know that it is everyday Victorians that are paying the price and we know that the laws are not in line with community expectations. We also know that a big part of this job is to support the work of Victoria Police with the tools, resources and expanded powers that they need to do their job. It is why we have invested more than $4.5 billion in Victoria Police. We have more police on our streets than any other state in this nation, and we have as a result of that investment more than 3600 new police officers.

And we are going further. We are putting community safety first through our law changes, making bail harder to get for serious offenders. We are creating a dedicated crime for those who offend while on bail. And also, referring to other changes, we are appointing a dedicated magistrate to speed up processes, particularly when it comes to youth offenders. This is all about focusing on breaking this cycle of repeat youth offending and also understanding that there will be consequences, because every Victorian deserves to feel protected. We will keep working incredibly hard to support the work of Victoria Police to support the Victorian community to keep them safe.