Thursday, 24 March 2022

Committees

Legal and Social Issues Committee

Inquiry into Victoria’s Criminal Justice System

Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (10:07): Pursuant to standing order 23.29, I lay on the table a report from the Legal and Social Issues Committee on the inquiry into Victoria’s criminal justice system, including appendices, extracts of proceedings and a minority report. I further present transcripts of evidence and a summary booklet, and I move:

That the transcripts of evidence lie on the table and the report and summary booklet be published.

Motion agreed to.

Ms PATTEN: I move:

That the Council take note of the report.

As members of Parliament we get some really special opportunities to investigate matters of great importance, and I would have to say that this inquiry into the criminal justice system has been one of those privileges but also one of those challenges. As members can see, it is an enormous report. It is an enormous body of work, and it certainly consolidated my view, and I suspect the view of many of the members of the committee, that we need to improve the way we deliver justice in Victoria. In doing that we need to ensure community safety, but we need to find modern solutions to reduce offending and reoffending. As members can see, this report stretches over two volumes. There are over 100 recommendations for change. The committee held over 50 public hearings on this, and we involved over 90 representatives from different organisations as well as individuals.

We made it a priority to involve many individuals with lived experience of the justice system, and during this inquiry we heard some really heart-wrenching, tragic evidence from victims of crime who have survived just unimaginable loss and grief. I am really grateful to a number of them who are here today. I would really like for the chamber to note Ms Cathy Oddie, Thomas Wain, Dianne McDonald, Tracie Oldham and Lee Little, who are joining us today and who have been part of this crucial inquiry. Their contributions can be seen in this report. They were influential in this, and I hope that the government listens to what they have to say today.

I want Victorians to be safe always, and we must make inroads into achieving that goal. But I do not believe—and certainly the evidence showed us this—that building more prisons will do that. In fact it may do absolutely the opposite.

The government’s priority should be on supporting victims of crime, rehabilitating offenders, circumventing recidivism, ending over-representation of Aboriginal people in our jails and ensuring early intervention for those who are disadvantaged. That was one of the saddest facts that we found in this—that socio-economic disadvantage is so closely linked to increased risk of engagement with the criminal justice system. While the vast majority of people do not come across the criminal justice system, different forms of social disadvantage compound to increase that risk of criminalisation and victimisation.

The committee has made a number of recommendations for a strong focus on early intervention. We must identify individuals at risk and provide those social supports to divert them away from the system. I believe this includes changing the minimum age of criminal responsibility. It also needs to look at the way cautions and court-based diversions are used. They are a key mechanism to divert people away from the system, but currently their application is inconsistent and often at the discretion of the attending officer.

The Victorian government is currently developing a new victims of crime financial assistance scheme, and I encourage it to review the 31 thoughtful and considered recommendations regarding victims of crime that are captured in this report. These include the urgent need to embed trauma-informed practices into the design of the criminal justice system. It needs to be more accessible and a less adversarial process for victims of crime.

We need to take a stronger look at the bail system. We have seen unsentenced prisoners now accounting for 87 per cent of prison receptions. The purpose of bail is to keep the community safe from high offenders, but denying bail has had negative effects on so many people who have been charged with an offence, and it has disproportionately impacted women, Aboriginal Victorians, children, young people and people living with disabilities. The same goes for parole. We are now releasing people without parole, and that does not necessarily make the community safer.

So I am very pleased to present this report on the criminal justice system in Victoria. I hope that it influences the government to work towards a more modern, rehabilitation-focused justice system. This is what all stakeholders want, and it would have a significant positive influence on the lives of individuals and the safety of our community.

I would like to thank the secretariat staff for this extraordinary body of work: inquiry officer Alice Petrie; the research assistants, Caitlin Connally, Samantha Leahy, Jessica Wescott and Meagan Murphy; and administrative officers Cat Smith and Sylvette Bassy, under the management of Matt Newington and Lilian Topic. I would also like to thank my committee colleagues for all of their great and substantial work on this report.

Dr KIEU (South Eastern Metropolitan) (10:13:083:): This report investigates the current state of the criminal justice system in Victoria and makes recommendations to support a better functioning justice system. The report has covered a lot of ground. It is a long report with many recommendations, which reflects how complex the criminal justice system is. We had 170 public submissions, eight days of public hearings and dozens of witnesses, organisations and individuals.

The government has been active in reforming the criminal justice system and, following this report, I have no doubt that work will continue. Some of the key achievements of the Andrews Labor government include implementing all recommendations of the Royal Commission into Family Violence, the Youth Justice Strategic Plan 2020–30, establishing a victims financial assistance scheme, creating a witness intermediaries scheme to support vulnerable witnesses to give their best evidence in court, delivering new Drug Courts in Melbourne, Shepparton and Ballarat and signing Victoria’s fourth Aboriginal justice agreement.

Something we found in this inquiry is that the best way of preventing crime is to address the root causes of the behaviour. Our government has included free TAFE, historically low unemployment rates, Home Stretch for young adults in out-of-home care, three-year-old kinder, the Big Housing Build and a royal commission into mental health.

During the inquiry to inform us the committee called on the knowledge and expertise of community members, including victims of crime, who have lived experiences navigating the Victorian criminal justice system. The committee recognises the toll of revisiting such traumatic experiences during a parliamentary committee hearing, and we express our sincere appreciation to those who shared their stories. I would also like to thank the committee members and the hardworking and dedicated committee secretariat staff.

Ms BURNETT-WAKE (Eastern Victoria) (10:15): I rise today as a member of the Legal and Social Issues Committee to speak on our recent inquiry into Victoria’s criminal justice system. The inquiry was incredibly broad and each chapter really could have been an inquiry in its own right. We received written submissions, spoke with people at public hearings, reviewed research and deliberated over numerous meetings; I believe it was a total of 23 hours—a lot. The Victorian justice system is multifaceted and lately the various elements of that system have not been working together as effectively as they could. We looked at ways to overcome this. The committee worked together despite points of difference, although I do think these points of difference are worth noting in the chamber.

The first finding, about data collection by Victoria Police, is concerning. Victoria Police considered taking demographic details in 2006 but never implemented it as they were not sure if it would increase transparency or create more harm. We had various concerns over the accuracy of police assuming someone’s ethnicity, which is detailed in our minority report. We acknowledge the growing prison population in Victoria; however, we believe any changes to bail or parole laws should be informed by clear, objective, expert advice that does not diminish community safety. We heard evidence about the impact of strip searches on prisoners and solitary confinement; however, we did not hear evidence on the health and safety impacts of removing these searches or ceasing solitary confinement. The Liberals believe that before making a recommendation for review full evidence is required.

This is overall a comprehensive report, and I would encourage the government to not only look at the recommendations in the main report but also our minority report. I would like to finish by thanking all the stakeholders who took the time to make detailed submissions that have formed the basis of this report and to recognise the victim-survivors who bravely spoke out about their lived experiences and provided evidence to the committee.

The PRESIDENT: Before I call Ms Maxwell, I would like to wish Ms Taylor a happy birthday.

Ms MAXWELL (Northern Victoria) (10:17): It gives me great pleasure to speak to this report tabled today for the Legal and Social Issues Committee inquiry into Victoria’s criminal justice system. This is something that I have intended to do since the day I was elected to this Parliament. Firstly, I would like to thank the chair and committee members as well as Lilian Topic, Matt Newington and other committee staff for their support throughout this enormous inquiry. The physical size of the report, as you have seen, is an indication of the work required, including background research, compiling information from the 170 submissions and evidence from 50 public hearings through to supporting the deliberations and drafting of the final report and recommendations.

I pay tribute to the many victims that contributed to this inquiry, both through written submissions and in hearings, and I welcome some of them who are in the gallery today. The sharing of their experience demonstrates the deep and enduring suffering that comes from the impact of crime. My referral to the committee was born from these experiences, and I stand here today to say: I hear you, and this report is for you. Sorry, I am so emotional about this. I also thank the organisations who work across the broad justice space, who dedicate themselves to difficult and important work.

When I brought my motion to the Parliament back in June 2020 to refer this inquiry to the Legal and Social Issues Committee I noted that significantly driving down crime has to be the goal that we all share—that and supporting victims of crime. With more than 50 per cent of people incarcerated in Victoria going on to reoffend, we simply must stop this. I wanted the committee to investigate the drivers of recidivism—how we safeguard our community against these serious violent offenders but also ensure our corrections system is sufficiently corrective in its actions and outcomes. We have considered the opportunities for reform to break what is often a downward spiral of offending for those caught up in crime but also how to limit the lifetime of suffering for those victims and survivors.

Motion agreed to.