MP ‘flabbergasted’ by state government’s plan to axe Melbourne children’s courts

Plans to slash the number of children’s courts across Melbourne mean there will not be a single court or magistrate available to hear matters in the eastern suburbs.

Children’s matters will no longer be heard at Ringwood, Sunshine, Werribee, Heidelberg and Frankston courts from January.

A senior bureaucrat has defended plans to sack dozens of staff and slash the number of Children’s Courts operating across Melbourne denying the move is linked to budget pressures.

Court Services Victoria chief executive Louise Anderson told the parliament’s Public Accounts and Estimates Committee on Tuesday children’s matters would no longer be heard at Ringwood, Sunshine, Werribee, Heidelberg and Frankston courts from January.

Instead, criminal and intervention order matters will be spread across just four specialist courts at Broadmeadows, Dandenong, Melbourne and Moorabbin in a move she said would improve the experience of children caught in the system.

The plan to slash the number of children’s courts has been slammed.

The claim sparked an angry outburst from PAEC deputy chair, Liberal MP Nick McGowan, who said the decision meant there would not be a single court or magistrate available to hear matters in the eastern suburbs.

“To take the axe to half of Victoria’s children courts represents a new low in this government’s approach to justice and youth crime,” he said.

“I am flabbergasted that this state government is cutting justice for juveniles by axing every Children’s Court in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne starting with Ringwood.

“Not a single court for Children will exist in the eastern suburbs, despite the fact youth crime is at a 14-year high.

“This decision stinks – it’s plain wrong and will leave vulnerable victims worse off.

“It also places an additional workload on police and stretched legal services as they will now be forced to travel miles away and spend hours if not days, where once matters could be addressed locally, and within minutes.

“Nobody wins from the state government’s closure of every Children’s Court in Melbourne Eastern suburbs.

“The Magistrates do not support this move and were not consulted, the public do not, the police do not, nobody thinks this will achieve better outcomes for victims or the alleged perpetrators.”

Ms Anderson also confirmed the court was considering closing a specialist mediation unit within the court that would see 34 people lose their jobs.

Liberal MP Nick McGowan says he is ‘flabbergasted’ by the decision.

Mr McGowan says ‘it’s plain wrong and will leave vulnerable victims worse off’.

The proposal would remove specialist conciliation conferences and transfer case management tasks they dealt with to magistrates.

An estimated $20m was stripped from court funding in May’s budget, but Ms Anderson said the controversial proposals had nothing to do with financial considerations.

Documents provided to PAEC show $45m in Treasurer’s Advances was approved for the court in 2023-24 to assist operating costs, infrastructure works and a cyber incident.

Latest Crime Statistics Agency data shows crimes committed by children aged 10 to 17 have risen to their highest level since 2010.

The surge in youth crime included a 45 per cent increase in robberies committed by children aged between 14 and 17 over the last year, and a 30 per cent spike in car thefts.

The Allan government has rejected any suggestion the reduction in court locations was a result of growing financial pressures, or that it would lead to a delay in matters being dealt with.

Originally published as MP ‘flabbergasted’ by state government’s plan to axe Melbourne children’s courts