As the final sitting week of Parliament for the year comes to a close, VALS condemns the Allan Labor government’s suite of regressive reforms introduced throughout this year that have actively dismantled the principles of justice; fairness, equality and access. It is a deplorable state of affairs.
What began with bail laws, which has led to the mass pre-trial incarceration of our children and adults, to the expansion of police powers, restricting the right to peacefully protest, enabling designated areas to be declared for up to 6 months, and expanding the remit of Protective Service Officers, alongside unnecessary new retail offences being introduced. Today with the passing of the Justice Legislation Amendment (Community Safety) Bill 2025, which will see children face adult life sentences of imprisonment in adult courts is the culmination of loss of hope for our kids.
As we enter in the school holidays, our children will be over-surveilled and hyper-policed, they can be searched in the CBD and in particular shopping centres without adequate reasoning. When the government could have passed laws that that better protected women and children experiencing family violence, they have delayed these important measures to next year, and instead they have prioritised the incarceration and further harm of children, many of whom have experienced family violence. Children are often the forgotten victims of family violence, and the Premier’s tunnel vision has cemented their future.
Premier Allan’s Christmas wish list is obviously the incarceration of more black and brown children, children living with disability and mental health issues, and children in out-of-home-care – her wish will be granted. They will join hundreds of children in overcrowded youth justice facilities with not enough staff, so they will experience rolling lockdowns, disrupted education and supports, and little time outside of their small cells. Prisons are criminogenic. The end result is not rehabilitation. These facilities will become crime factories. Children incarcerated for low level offending will develop new social networks that are not about addressing the underlying causes of their offending behaviour, but instead a gold-plated pathway to further offending.
Our kids deserve futures. Keeping kids out of prison and with their families and communities is what keeps them strong. Funding programs that support children to heal and learn from their mistakes is what keeps our children and communities safe. Jacinta Allan is investing millions in outcomes that simply don’t work, when the evidence-base is staring her right in the face – programs and supports that intervene early, and programs that support their needs.
For a government to stand behind the Justice Legislation Amendment (Community Safety) Bill 2025, when it is incompatible with the Victorian Charter of Human Rights is abhorrent. On Tuesday, the Attorney General made the extraordinary admission that the Allan Government’s harmful youth sentencing Bill is incompatible with children’s protected rights in the Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities. VALS, Aboriginal Community Controlled organisations and representative bodies and the community legal sector sounded the alarm on this possibility as soon the government announced these damaging reforms. This was completely avoidable. The government’s refusal to back away from these reforms has created a Bill which stands totally opposed to what is in the best interests of our children. With the Bill passing, this government has exposed our children to acute risks of harm.
Shame on the Premier, shame on this government.
Quotes Attributable to Nerita Waight, CEO of the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service:
“This festive season, while other kids will be opening up their presents with their families at home, our young people will be behind bars. They are in want of hope, they are in want of a future filled with promise. But Premier Allan has determined that they are unworthy.”
“The Premier has stated time and time again that she is listening to victims and that is why they are ramming through these laws, however she is actively ignoring Aboriginal communities, who have suffered state sanctioned violence and harm for 237 years of the colonial project. It is dishonourable and insulting that only some victim’s voices are listened to.”