Tuesday, 18 November 2025

 Sarah MANSFIELD (Western Victoria) (12:09): My question is for the Minister for Corrections and youth justice. Last week you denied in the house that the government had abandoned its youth justice strategy for 2020 to 2030. That plan states as an action item that the government would – and I quote from page 19:

Reduce remand numbers by analysing the factors contributing to current rates of remand.

But contrary to this, the Premier has also repeatedly stated in the last couple of months that the government’s justice strategy is working because it has drastically increased the total number of both adults and young people on remand. As I am surely not the only one who is confused by the contradiction here, can you please clarify if state Labor’s youth justice strategy aims to reduce the total number of children and young people on remand, as in the plan you released a few years ago, or increase the total number of children on remand, as per the Premier’s recent comments?

 Enver ERDOGAN (Northern Metropolitan – Minister for Casino, Gaming and Liquor Regulation, Minister for Corrections, Minister for Youth Justice) (12:10): I thank Dr Mansfield for her question and her interest in these matters. I think these are really important questions. I think the Premier’s announcement last week, and what she reiterated today, was about how as a government we are focused on ensuring that there are serious consequences for people that cause high levels of harm, but there are early interventions. As the Minister for Youth Justice and Minister for Corrections, I am proud to say we do have the lowest incarceration rate in the nation in Victoria, and that is because we have been relatively successful in diverting young people away from the criminal justice system in the first place. That is what I want for young people. But unfortunately, although the number of unique offenders is quite stable, we have seen a high level of repeat offenders. Our policies and the announcement made by the Attorney-General last week were about targeting those offenders – the home invasions, the aggravated burglaries, the carjackings – that are causing significant levels of harm to victims and causing a lot of fear in our community. Everyone deserves to feel safe and be safe in their home, and I think that is what our policies are: they are targeted.

I will continue to do work to ensure that we can divert young people away from the justice system, and that is why the announcement this morning was so important. The announcement we made today was about partnering and about having a violence reduction unit that will report directly to the Premier. It was about lived-experience mentoring, partnering with people that have credibility, that have worked with young people that are from these communities, that have interacted with the youth justice system but have turned their lives around. So as a government I think Victorians expect us to do both: tough consequences but also serious investments in early intervention and diversion.

Members interjecting.

Sarah Mansfield: On a point of order, President, I do not think the minister has answered my question. He did not mention the word ‘remand’ once. My question was specifically about remand.

The PRESIDENT: I believe the minister was being relevant. In saying that, we have this Mr McGowan–Mr McIntosh show – the constant interjections from Mr McGowan, not so much constant from Mr McIntosh – but then Mr Galea is kind of playing third fiddle. Maybe if those three members can cooperate, Dr Mansfield will hear the answer and I will, and then we will be able to judge from there.

Enver ERDOGAN: As I was saying, as a government we are committed to doing both. We are making sure that people that do cause high levels of harm are held to account, and some in a custodial facility, but on the other hand we are committed to making sure that there are early interventions and diversions for young people so they stay away from the justice system. In Victoria we have the lowest incarceration rate in the nation, and that is because of the success in moving young people away from contact with the criminal justice system. There is obviously more work that needs to be done, and today’s announcement was about our violence reduction unit – a world-leading example that is going to be implemented first in Victoria. That is about partnering with people with lived experience that have done the work from these communities that have turned their lives around, because we know that violence is preventable. We need to do that work, and we are committed to doing that work with all our partners.

 Sarah MANSFIELD (Western Victoria) (12:13): I appreciate the announcement today – very good. It was something lots of people have been calling for for a long time – a little bit too late, but we welcome that. This question is really about the number of young people on remand. The Premier has been clear and unequivocal that higher total numbers of children and young people on remand are a clear indication that the changes to the government’s youth justice strategy are working. So can you confirm that a KPI of your new youth justice strategy is to increase the total number of children on remand, and if so, what is the quantifiable target or forecast for the average number of children that will be held on remand for the 2025–26 calendar year?

 Enver ERDOGAN (Northern Metropolitan – Minister for Casino, Gaming and Liquor Regulation, Minister for Corrections, Minister for Youth Justice) (12:14): I thank Dr Mansfield for her supplementary question. Dr Mansfield, I think our KPI is keeping the community safe. All our law reforms that we have brought to this chamber during this term of government have been focused on ensuring the Victorian community is as safe as possible. Whether that be in the youth justice setting, whether that be in a workplace setting, that is our focus. In terms of decisions made about who enters into custodial facilities, those decisions are made by independent courts, and I respect those. But we have of course rebalanced some of those settings to reflect community concern targeted at those high-level harm-causing offences.