Friday, 14 November 2025

 Brad BATTIN (Berwick – Leader of the Opposition) (14:05): My question is to the Premier. This week the government has announced an imitation of ‘adult crime, adult time’ with no legislation, lifetime penalties for an existing offence of recruiting child gang members under which there has not been a single conviction and retail worker laws missing the key worker protection orders that both retailers and unions want. Doesn’t this week highlight the Allan Labor government chasing headlines rather than fixing the crime crisis of their own making?

 Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:06): I would like to thank the Leader of the Opposition for the opportunity to outline once again to the house the actions that we are taking to keep the community safe. I appreciate that the member for Berwick, the Leader of the Opposition, has referred to adult time for violent crime, and we will be legislating before the end of this year. We will be bringing legislation to the Parliament before the end of this year to introduce adult time for violent crime so the courts treat children as adults for these violent and brazen crimes that are causing such grave concern to the community. We know because the data tells us that the likelihood of jail is stronger and the sentences are longer.

I thank the Leader of the Opposition for this opportunity to talk to the house this afternoon about how we are sending a very clear message to the evil organised crime gang lords that, if they recruit a child to engage in violent acts, they will be facing a life sentence for their evil behaviour that is equivalent to child abuse. We also need to go further, which is why we have announced that further work will be done, consistent with what the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission has called on governments around the country to do, to look at how technology is used to recruit young children and how further strengthening of the laws needs to be undertaken. We are taking advice from Victoria Police of course on this matter, where the chief commissioner has identified organised crime as being a key focus of his in terms of dealing with bringing down the crime rate here in Victoria.

I would also like to thank the Leader of the Opposition for the opportunity today to talk about how we have introduced into the house today stronger laws to protect retail, hospitality and transport workers, and I would like to thank those workers who stood with me and the Attorney-General this morning. These workers should not experience abuse or threats in their workplace and they need our protection, which is why we have brought legislation to the Parliament today and made it clear that this is the first step. There will be further legislation before the house in April of next year to introduce worker protection orders as well.

As a former retail worker who worked for seven years on the checkouts, I did not work in a time like we are in now, where too many young retail workers, hospitality workers and transport workers are experiencing threats and abuse. We are cracking down on it, and I thank the Leader of the Opposition for the opportunity to go into detail on the action we are taking.

 Brad BATTIN (Berwick – Leader of the Opposition) (14:09): Will the Premier demonstrate her faith in fixing the crime crisis by committing to resigning if crime rates have not fallen by the statistics released in September 2026?

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: The member for Tarneit can leave the chamber for an hour.

Member for Tarneit withdrew from chamber.

 Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:10): I note the Leader of the Opposition has staked his claims on the year 2030. He will be lucky to see December 30.

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: The minister for advanced manufacturing is warned.

Brad Battin: On a point of order, Speaker, this is directly in relation to relevance, considering the crime stats here in Victoria under this Premier are at the highest level that they have been in any state across this entire country. Will she make the commitment to standing by her position or resigning?

The SPEAKER: Order! I remind the Leader of the Opposition of the correct way to raise a point of order. It is not an opportunity to make a statement to the house, nor is it an opportunity to repeat the question. The Premier has only been on her feet for 10 seconds.

Jacinta ALLAN: I say to the Leader of the Opposition that in understanding, as the chief commissioner, the police minister and I have all said, that the crime rate is unacceptable, you do not deal with that, as the Leader of the Opposition seems to be more focused on, by quitting. We are not quitting on this side of the house, we are fighting. We are fighting to support Victorians, fighting for safer communities, investing in the health and education services that they need and supporting struggling families. We know that adult time for violent crime, cracking down on organised crime and protecting retail workers is the hard work that needs to be done supporting Victoria Police to protect the community. And I say this: I suspect the resignation of the Leader of the Opposition will not be a matter for him.