The Victorian Greens have slammed Premier Allan’s decision to abandon part of the government’s own bail bill less than 24 hours before it was due to be debated, that would have simplified the process of granting bail for children charged with minor offences.
The Greens have called it an incredibly weak and retrograde decision from Labor, that may lead to lifelong damage to children who are needlessly exposed to prison.
More than 1 in 3 (37.4%) people currently in detention in Victoria are not sentenced, a figure which is even higher for women, young children and First Nations Victorians.
Victorian Greens justice spokesperson, Katherine Copsey, said all the evidence showed that children faced lifelong damage from periods of custody, that invariably resulted in them ending up in the adult prison system later in life, which is why we should be doing everything possible to keep them out of prison in the first place.
She said the government claimed that its now abandoned reforms would have led to improved individual outcomes and enhanced community safety in the long-term only days ago, but had decided to prioritise politics instead at the last minute.
The data says youth offending is currently incredibly rare, but some will persist until the government has the courage to implement justice policies based on its own expert advice, not politics.
Earlier this year the coronial inquiry into the death of Veronica Nelson handed down its damning findings.
The coroner found that Victoria’s current bail laws were having a discriminatory impact on disadvantaged groups of Victorians, describing the Labor Government’s changes to the Bail Act in 2018 as ‘a complete and unmitigated disaster’.
The coroner recommended urgent reform of the Bail Act, in particular the provisions that have adverse effects on vulnerable groups of people, including children.
As stated by Victorian Greens justice spokesperson, Katherine Copsey MLC:
“The government knew what needed to be done yesterday to protect children and increase community safety, but today politics has trumped doing what is right.
“Premier Allan’s last-minute backflip poses worrying questions about her commitment to evidence-based policy, First Nations justice and the upcoming Treaty process.
“Without urgent and meaningful reform, the Victorian Labor Government’s enduring legacy may well be that their justice policies were directly responsible for the imprisonment of more disadvantaged people than at any time in recorded history.”
