James Campbell: Jacinta Allan has just shown she will do whatever it takes to stay in power
Jacinta Allan has gone from raising the age of criminal responsibility to 14 to locking up 14-year-olds for life. When it comes to political survival, she practises the best Labor tradition — whatever it takes.
From raising the age of criminal responsibility to 14, to locking up 14-year-olds for life for aggravated burglaries and car-jackings.
Wow. That’s quite a journey in two-and-half years.
Those of us who doubted Jacinta Allan’s ruthlessness were clearly mistaken.
When it comes to political survival, in the best Labor tradition, the premier has just shown she will do whatever it takes.
Some of these changes are long overdue and sensible, some are of questionable necessity and some are over the top.
In the first category are the changes to the sentencing principles which will operate in the Children’s Court.
Requiring magistrates to prioritise community safety in sentencing decisions is such basic commonsense that it’s bizarre that the government has had to mandate it.
Likewise removing the requirement that magistrates only use prison as a last resort for juvenile offenders.
It is now a matter of historical debate but if these changes had been made earlier and the Children’s Court had got the message and acted on them, then all this may not have been deemed necessary.
Basically this legislation is a massive vote of no confidence from Labor in the people they have appointed to that court.
As for moving more cases to the County Court, well, if you will excuse the pun, the jury is out on that one.
Yes, it is true that juveniles dealt with in adult courts tend to be treated more harshly than in the Children’s Court.
But how much of that difference is explained by the fact these courts only deal with more serious cases is an open question.
It is true, however, that judges in the County Court can impose much longer sentences than the three years that can be handed down from the bench of the Children’s Court, so it should, in theory anyway, lead to longer sentences.
On the other hand the decision to expand the range of offences for which people can be handed life sentences is, for adults, dubious and indefensible for children.
Yes, aggravated home invasion and home invasion, intentionally causing injury in circumstances of gross violence and recklessly causing injury in circumstances of gross violence are all horrible crimes.
As are aggravated carjacking, carjacking, serious and repeated aggravated burglary and serious and repeated armed robbery.
Which is why they already carry the potential for very very long sentences – up to 25 years for aggravated home invasion.
But leaving aside for a second the fact they’re just not in the same league of awfulness, putting them on a par with murder is also dangerous as it creates a perverse sentencing incentive for the criminal.
Or to put it more bluntly, do we really want a situation where criminals know there will be no difference to the sentence they’ll get from a home invasion if they leave their victims alive or dead?
At least that’s debatable.
There’s no justification for locking up a 14-year-old kid for the rest of his life for these crimes.
Even Texas doesn’t do that.
That Labor — Victorian Labor! — has ended up here after promising as recently as April 2023 that by 2027 the age of criminal responsibility would have been abolished for kids as old as 13, shows that whatever our rulers might believe about the deterrent effect of sentences on the crime rate, they clearly understand the deterrent effect being seen to do nothing will have on the likelihood of Victorians for voting them next year.
It will also not have escaped their attention too that in the year since he became Liberal leader it’s looked like the only club in Brad Battin’s bag is a 1-wood called ‘crime’ and if he finds himself in a situation where he can’t reach for it, he’s really rather stuck.
Three weeks ago the Legislative Assembly passed arguably the most consequential piece of constitutional legislation in the state’s history in the form of the treaty with indigenous Victorians.
It’s an act which will forever change the way we are governed.
And what words did the leader of His Majesty’s Opposition, the leader of the Liberal Party and alternative premier have to say on this historical occasion?
Nothing.
As far as I can tell from checking Hansard, he didn’t speak on the bill.
You would assume – indeed hope – that after this legislation the salience of crime as a political issue will drop away at least until we vote next year.
Especially as the Premier has hinted that there is more coming too on the bail front.
Unless the Liberals are going to restore birching to pride of place in the calendar of punishments available to magistrates it’s hard to see what they can do now to trump her.
And without crime to talk about, what is Brad Battin going to do all day?
Originally published as James Campbell: Jacinta Allan has just shown she will do whatever it takes to stay in power
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