Thugs caught carrying machetes will face jail or fines of more than $47,000 and police will be given extra powers to conduct random searches under the Allan government’s latest measures to tackle the crime crisis.
Victorian jails have been ordered to get ready for an influx of prisoners, which they say could push the system to breaking point as the Allan government hopes to push tough new bail laws through parliament next week.
County Court chief judge Peter Kidd, whose legal career has spanned the George Pell case, Tony Mokbel’s drug trials and the Silk-Miller police murders, has told colleagues he is quitting the role.
Jacinta Allan is finally trying to tip the scales back towards community safety, and she’s put the ball for addressing the crisis squarely back in the courts.
Victorians — including children — committing the worst crimes will be jailed after a single, further serious offence while those charged with home invasions will face tougher bail tests in changes designed to “jolt the system” and put public safety first.
For months there have been grumblings about problems with the Premier’s office but a recent move that slipped under the radar is considered a key step in a leadership challenge.
That Jacinta Allan has put the machete ban back on the agenda shows she is serious about listening to both the electorate, and her colleagues — but cracks in her government on the youth crime crisis are starting to show.
A statewide ban on machetes will be proposed by Cabinet next week after the Allan government, for more than a year, stubbornly resisted calls to put such a ban in place.
Victoria is hurtling toward record debt levels, with Friday’s budget update showing the Allan government has spent $3.36bn more than anticipated.
Premier Jacinta Allan’s chief of staff Matt Phelan has walked out, following months of complaints from inside Labor about the way her office has operated.
Original URL: https://www.heraldsun.com.au/journalists/shannon-deery/page/3