Thursday, 5 March 2026

 Renee HEATH (Eastern Victoria) (18:30): (2400) My adjournment matter tonight is for the Minister for Corrections. The action that I seek is this: that the government stop paying lip-service to victims of crime and start showing some consistency when it comes to criminals and their victims. Last week the Allan Labor government spent days congratulating itself for announcing something that has not yet come into law. On 27 February the Attorney-General announced that good character references will no longer be considered when criminals are being sentenced. Most Victorians would support this, but there are two problems. The first one is this announcement comes without legislation or detail; it is yet another headline without any substance. Victims who raise concerns about crime are often ignored. In the last budget this government even cut funding to the victims of crime financial assistance scheme.

The second problem is the government hypocrisy is staggering. Last week the Attorney-General said perpetrators must be held accountable for their actions, without any excuses. This is something that the opposition completely agrees with. But if this government was truly serious about holding offenders accountable, it would start by fixing a policy that allows violent and high-risk offenders to get out of prison early, because right now violent and high-risk offenders are still having their sentences cut short by something called emergency management days. These days allow prisoners to have time deducted from their sentences when prison operations are disrupted, meaning offenders can be released earlier than the court ordered. We know that during lockdown many prisoners had years cut off their sentences. Katie Haley’s murderer had 427 days cut off his sentence. Celeste Manno’s murderer had over 50 days knocked off his sentence before he was even sentenced. While the government talks about accountability, violent offenders are still getting out of prison early. This is the reality.

For years this government has been more concerned about criminals than it has about victims, and this continues to this day – the emergency management days absolutely prove that. But this is an election year and it is approaching and suddenly the government seems to be interested in victims. Minister, if you are serious about putting victims first and holding offenders accountable, when will you abolish emergency management days for violent and high-risk offenders, or at the very least ensure that none of them will get out of jail before their non-parole periods?