00:00The headline from this announcement today is that, as you mentioned, the government
00:05is walking back from its commitment to increase the age of criminal responsibility from 10
00:10to 14.
00:11Now, that is significant because the previous premier, Daniel Andrews, had committed to
00:16introducing that by 2027, even touting it as the most progressive laws when it came
00:21to youth crime in the country.
00:24Today, a backflip from the Labor government.
00:26They'll increase it to 12, but won't increase it to 14, which will be contentious amongst
00:31the crossbench, but we'll get to that a little bit later on.
00:33In terms of the other aspects of the bill, well, they'll introduce tougher bail laws.
00:39What does that mean?
00:40Well, they said today that it'll be harder for youth offenders who have committed serious
00:44crimes to be released out on bail.
00:48And it's deemed that there are more significant risks of committing these serious crimes,
00:52such as carjackings, car robberies and violent robbery offences, then it's likely that they
00:58won't receive bail.
01:00In addition to that, they've introduced a new task force called COBRA, which will focus
01:07on reducing youth offenders and the amount of crimes committed by youth offenders across
01:13the state.
01:14Now, this is all part of a suite of changes that the government is introducing after serious
01:21pressure has been mounting on the government after a number of crimes were allegedly committed
01:26by youth offenders, including what police say, crimes that resulted in the deaths of
01:31three Victorians.
01:32Now, as we discuss the changes or the backflips by the state government today, the Premier
01:39Jacinta Allen was somewhat magnanimous, for lack of a better phrase.
01:44She said that those changes that were proposed by the Andrews government were, it was, she
01:49described it as a different government and a different Premier, and that these laws were
01:54focused on the victims, but also the children that were committing these crimes as well.
01:59Let's have a listen to the Premier.
02:02We're delivering already a number of reforms that will make a real and important difference.
02:07More investment in education and employment programs, helping more young people to participate
02:12in treatment and rehabilitation programs.
02:15New changes too, that mean victims can confront the youth offenders, giving victims a stronger
02:21voice and also youth offenders an understanding about the impact of their crime on victims
02:28of crime.
02:30These reforms deliver action at both ends of the spectrum, taking that whole of justice
02:34system response.
02:36The Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service hasn't missed with its criticism of the government.
02:40It described it as a treacherous backflip, saying that it's bowed to the pressure of
02:44tabloid media here in Victoria and won't be supporting the changes under any circumstances.
02:51From a legislative standpoint, well, the Greens have also been heavily critical of this move
02:56not to, I guess, stick to its commitment of increasing the age of criminal responsibility
03:02and it won't be voting for them in the Parliament.
03:04That's significant because the Liberal opposition here have said that they actually don't support
03:10any increase.
03:11So the government going from 10 to 12, they don't support that either.
03:14So the government needs the support of the Greens and the opposition to get this bill
03:18through the upper house.
03:19As it stands now, both parties are seemingly completely in opposition to the bill.
03:25There's also been criticism from other youth justice advocates who say that the bill goes
03:31too far, there's too much influence from the police in these bills and not enough emphasis
03:36on rehabilitation of the people actually committing these crimes.
03:40So it's a bit of a wait and see as to whether this bill will pass the Parliament.
03:43Look, the government is confident, there may be a few amendments along the way, but as
03:49I said, it's a wait and see game here.
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