Thursday, 13 November 2025

 Anasina GRAY-BARBERIO (Northern Metropolitan) (10:04): Adult time for violent crime – this is the proposed new policy the Victorian Premier came out with 24 hours ago. But we know at the core it is not about community safety, it is a desperate attempt to cling on to power. All this Labor government seems to be doing is investing in prisons – bandaid solutions, quick fixes – when the evidence has been clear from the start: invest in education, invest in public schools, invest in teachers, invest in early intervention programs, invest in early childhood and invest in the services in community that work. Let us be clear here: it is misleading for this Premier to say that expanding prisons is going to keep the community safe. Evidence is overwhelming that prisons do not deter crime in young people.

I will tell you what does deter crime: it is when you address the drivers of it – poverty, lack of education, employment, health inequity. Let us talk about who these laws are going to disproportionately impact: the First Nations community, black communities, brown communities – my communities. It begs the question why this Labor government thinks that harsher punishments are better than investment in education and wraparound supports. We all deserve to feel safe in our communities, but the answers this government is looking for do not rest in expanding prisons or filling up prison beds. They lie in treating children as children.