Wednesday, 10 September 2025

Youth crime

Danny O’BRIEN (Gippsland South) (14:25): My question is to the Premier. The Youth Junction, which operates intensive programs to direct youth away from offending, has lost funding for three programs and 19 staff in the past 18 months. CEO Blake Edwards said this means 800 young people have lost access to services. Why is the government cutting successful youth diversion programs in the middle of a youth crime crisis?

Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:26): I think the member for Gippsland South could appreciate that we will need to perhaps go and check the information he has provided to the house, because as we have seen on previous questions, there is a bit of a pattern of behaviour about the full picture not being told when these case studies are presented to the house. When it comes to supporting whether it is youth diversion programs outside of our youth justice system or programs within our youth justice system, we have a range of programs to prevent crime, because we know that the best approach in terms of dealing with crime is to prevent it. It is to make sure that we are giving kids the best education. It is making sure that there is a pathway for them into our TAFE system.

Danny O’Brien: On a point of order on the question of relevance, Speaker, the question was specifically about Youth Junction. They have lost 19 staff in the last 18 months. Can the Premier come back to answering the question?

Mary-Anne Thomas: Speaker, there is no point of order. If the Leader of the Nationals had been listening, he would have heard that the Premier answered the question at the outset and she is now going on to detail the Allan Labor government’s investments into crime prevention programs.

The SPEAKER: I do not uphold the point of order. The Premier to come back to the question.

Jacinta ALLAN: I was referring to those programs or those policies because the approach we have taken is to provide more education opportunities for kids here in Victoria. You do not prevent crime by closing TAFEs, like those opposite did. You do not give kids the best chance in life when you cut funding to schools.

Danny O’Brien: On a point of order, Speaker, once again on the question of relevance, the question was about youth diversion programs, not TAFE.

Mary-Anne Thomas: Speaker, there is no point of order. I have got to say the Leader of the Nationals has just shown his ignorance if he does not think that investment in education is part of youth diversion strategy to make sure that kids have every opportunity in life.

The SPEAKER: The Premier was being relevant to the question that was asked. I cannot tell the Premier how to answer the question, but she was being relevant when it comes to youth diversion programs.

Jacinta ALLAN: Then there are the range of crime prevention programs, as I was saying, some of which are delivered outside of justice settings that are working with local communities. And I know the Minister for Youth is working with six through the community safety groups. That is just one example of many programs where we also partner with community organisations. Then there are also those programs that sit within the youth justice settings. That is why the youth justice reforms that were contained in legislation that passed through this place last year were both about giving police more powers to run more diversionary activity in our youth justice settings but also about running more programs, particularly for young kids whilst they are in prison serving a period of remand. That is the approach; we will continue to work with local communities. I said at the outset, in answering the Leader of the National Party’s question, that we would need to go and check the information he has provided to the house, because there are a range of programs that are run by the government and run by community organisations that are focused on crime prevention, and we will keep up this effort because that is the best way to keep our community safe by preventing crime and also supporting those kids before they head too far down a life that is experiencing criminal behaviour.

Danny O’BRIEN (Gippsland South) (14:30): Eighty-seven per cent of participants in the Youth Junction programs which have been cut did not reoffend, at a cost of just $11 per day. Why is preventing youth crime not a priority for this government?

Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:31): I absolutely reject the question that was put by the Leader of the National Party. We are absolutely focused, across all aspects of government, around working on programs and policies that are preventing youth crime. I mentioned the work that goes on in schools, and there is a huge amount of work that goes on in schools. There is the work making sure that we provide pathways for kids to go through our TAFE system. There is the work I detailed earlier in my answer to the substantive question, which clearly the member for Gippsland South was either wilfully not listening to or conveniently ignoring. We are continuing to provide support for a range of programs with community groups within and outside of our justice settings to continue this focus on preventing crime and supporting young people to make the best choices in life.