Youth Justice System
By John Berger
07 February 2024
Today I rise to contribute to the debate on the motion from Ms Crozier. The motion notes a variety of contentions that are quite serious. It talks about youth crime jeopardising the safety of Victorian homes and families. It talks to the rate of youth crime. There is a line on ministerial accountability as well as the Allan Labor government’s management of the youth justice system, and there is a line on detention-based supervision and its comparison to other states in Australia, particularly New South Wales. It might not say the word, but there is a line about what I think it is an important topic to talk about – recidivism rates. In my view this is important and something that all governments and the Allan Labor government should be committed to – and we are committed to: rehabilitating young people. Then it calls on the Allan Labor government to conduct an audit of expenditure on youth crime in Victoria and overhaul the youth justice system to improve its capacity to rehabilitate young Victorians and keep our community safe.
The Allan Labor government has without doubt made significant contributions to remedying the cause of youth crime and implementing prevention measures. We are approaching this from many facets. We have a Minister for Youth Justice, my friend Minister Erdogan in this place, who is taking the lead here, but also we have the Minister for Youth in the other place, my friend Minister Suleyman, and their initiatives to engage with, consult, listen to and learn from young people. We know that conditions that lower a young person’s quality of life have been shown to directly impact their chances of being involved in youth crime, and therefore taking a whole-of-government and a whole-of-cabinet holistic approach is vital to tackling youth crime.
Across the state the Allan Labor government has been funding and opening youth hubs – spaces for young people to go and connect with other young people or participate in tailored programs that will improve their wellbeing and lives. The statistics show that if young people do not have support networks, safe places and community connections, they can in some instances turn to crime, which is exactly why the Allan Labor government believes it is essential that we invest in the quality of life of young Victorians. To do so we have created and supported youth hubs, centres like Scout halls and other third spaces for young people to come together and build community. I am thoroughly impressed with the work of the Minister for Youth and her dedication to improving the lives of young Victorians and of course the Minister for Crime Prevention and Minister for Police in the other place, my friend Mr Carbines.
There are also statistics showing a direct correlation between youth detention and recidivism. The younger a person is convicted, the more likely they are to be redetained throughout their lives. That is why we have invested more than $13 million into funding youth crime prevention programs. It brings the total investment to more than $40 million into the program, and it is giving an essential support service and social engagement to at-risk young people.
I have seen firsthand our investment into crime prevention programs at play. Last year I visited Swinburne University with the Minister for Crime Prevention to see the work they do in building connections with young people to build positive futures. It delivers a sense of community to ensure young people are set on a good path. I want to thank all involved in this, and I look forward to working with the team in my community of Southern Metro and the incredible university staff at Swinburne to deliver this.
Our crime prevention grants and programs in the Pasifika space continue to support young people. In 2021 the $11 million building safer communities program delivered a series of community forums based on crime prevention as well as grants for local community safety initiatives. It was as a result of this that a partnership with the Centre for Multicultural Youth developed, where $150,000 went to the Pasifika prototype to find culturally appropriate solutions to keep young people on the right track. Our investment is working.
Our youth crime prevention program forms part of the broader $100 million investment package, which has delivered more than 940 crime prevention projects, and evaluation of the program has shown the level of its success. The program has driven a 29 per cent reduction in offending in participants and a significant reduction in the level of severity of offending when it does occur.
Detention is an unacceptable outcome for Victoria’s youth, which is why the Allan Labor government has opted to prevent the negative effects of youth detention through establishing and funding several prevention programs and strategies all over Victoria. In the 2023–24 state budget the Allan Labor government contributed $13.6 million towards the youth crime prevention program, supporting young people between 10 and 24 who have been or are at risk of contact with the youth justice system. It is designed to broadly address the cause of youth crime activity. This has led us to $40 million of investment in youth crime prevention since 2016. Child rights organisation 54 Reasons, based in the Greater Shepparton region, received $350,000 for education and support services. We invested $1 million to support the extension of the Pivot program, a local program running across Casey, Dandenong and Frankston which aims to tackle the cause of youth offending. They have been able to support over 4800 young people through their services, including 1800 who have received intensive support. And we launched the youth client voice project, a $41,000 government investment as part of the Barwon Child, Youth and Family’s Reignite Geelong program, which gave 12 young people who had had contact with the Victorian justice system an online platform to share their stories and inform our prevention services. Since 2016 we have invested more than $26 million in youth crime prevention grants, including $2.1 million to the aforementioned Barwon Child, Youth and Family.
The Allan Labor government is investing in prevention and is actively tackling the causes of youth offending, supporting organisations such as Pivot and 54 Reasons to engage youth in education, employment, interpersonal relationships and community connection. Our government’s tireless efforts to tackle youth crime prevention are working. We are leading the country in responses to youth crime. We are making sure less people are behind bars, with Victoria having the lowest number of people behind bars on the east coast. There is still a lot of work to be done in addressing the causes and the aggravators of youth crime, but the Allan Labor government is doing the work – the hard work, the real work – to push forward the reforms to put young Victorians on a better pathway.
The Report on Government Services that my colleagues have discussed notes our successes in moving young Victorians away from the criminal justice system in the first place. We have the lowest rate of young people in custody. The young people in our youth justice system often have histories of abuse, neglect and trauma. We know the profound impact this has had on their lives, so it is vital that we support them in a multipronged approach from health, rehabilitation and education to intervention. It all helps to reduce the risk of reoffending. It is that early intervention that makes a big difference in the long run, so we have invested at record levels for the state of Victoria to give our young Victorians the best chance to address concerning behaviours and turn their lives around.
I have six kids, all of them in their 20s. I have been through the kinders, the primary schools and the high schools over an almost 30-year period of raising kids. I know that no young person is the same, so I appreciate the whole-of-government approach we are taking to this matter, from better education access from the Deputy Premier to the Minister for Health in the other place and indeed the Minister for Housing in this place. It is only the Allan Labor government that will continue to push forward the reforms that the Victorian youth need to avoid criminal activity. I am proud to work with a government that has started improving the outcomes of youth in contact with the criminal justice system and will continue to do so.