Rita Panahi on Coalition’s crime policy: Tougher approach long overdue

THE best sign that Matthew Guy’s law-and-order plan is on target is the number of self-serving clowns ready to denounce it, writes Rita Panahi.

The best sign that Matthew Guy’s law and order plan is on target is the number of self-serving clowns ready to denounce it.

THE best sign that Matthew Guy’s law-and-order plan is on target is the number of self-serving clowns ready to denounce it.

Lawyers, civil libertarians, activists and assorted “experts” whose inept counsel has led to the hot mess we are in lined up to slam the Victorian Opposition’s tough new plans to combat the state’s crime crisis.

If you can judge a person by their enemies, you can judge a policy by its shrillest opponents.

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Victorian Opposition Leader Matthew Guy has promised to introduce the toughest sentencing regime in Victorian history if the Coalition is elected next year. Picture: David Geraghty.

The plan was called everything from “superficial” to an “abject failure” by high-profile lawyers and dial-a-quote specialists making absurd comparisons with the US.

Under the proposal, mandatory minimum jail terms would apply to 11 crime categories — murder, rape, manslaughter by single punch or strike, causing serious injury intentionally in circumstances of gross violence, causing serious injury recklessly in circumstances of gross violence, causing serious injury recklessly, causing serious injury intentionally, aggravated burglary, aggravated carjacking, armed robbery and aggravated home invasion — in cases where the offender has a prior conviction for a violent offence.

If you are convicted of murder and have a previous conviction for a violent offence, you’ll cop a minimum 20-year jail term. Can anyone seriously argue that is too harsh a penalty?

Perhaps in the future thugs with long criminal histories will rethink the merits of taking part in an aggravated home invasion, given the minimum penalty will be 10 years under Guy’s plan. Rapists would receive a 15-year minimum; under the current system there is no minimum sentence for rape or murder and barely a month goes by where the community isn’t appalled by a lenient sentence for such heinous crimes.

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These measures do not entirely remove a judge’s discretion, but merely impose a sentencing floor that cannot be undercut.

One cannot expect the judiciary to support the proposals but it’s the justice system’s dysfunction that makes these measures necessary.

Victorians have grown weary of watching violent criminals receive manifestly inadequate sentences from out-of-touch judges. It seems that too often the rights of violent offenders have trumped the rights of the community to feel safe in their own homes and streets.

The proposals won’t mend our justice system but they target its worst symptoms. Guy said: “To stop this crime wave we need mandatory sentencing and mandatory jail times; that’s what I will introduce. Victorians have had enough of the Andrews Government going soft on crime — it’s time for a new approach, a tough approach. No more excuses, no more second chances, it’s two strikes and you’re in.”

Under the Andrews Government, crime has soared by more than 20 per cent in two years.

In the past year there’s been a steep increase in the number of violent offences with a 16.4 per cent increase in murders, 18.6 per cent increase in attempted murders, 11.8 per cent increase in assaults and related offences and 22.3 per cent increase in dangerous and negligent acts endangering people.

Aggravated burglary offences have soared by 40.6 per cent, car thefts are up 27 per cent and robberies 24.4 per cent.

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VICTORIA’S crime crisis comes at a time when NSW has 12 major crime categories recording their lowest levels in 20 years. Crimes including murders, shootings, break-and-enters and robberies with weapons are at historic lows over the border, despite NSW facing the same societal issues that can lead to criminality: mental illness, addiction and poverty.

There are those keen to make comparisons with the US to dismiss any tough-on-crime policies but that is a simplistic argument that does not take into account the significant issues that afflict that nation.

Just as harebrained are comparisons with countries such as Norway that have lenient jail terms but relatively low crime. Mass killer Andre Breivik received a 21-year term, the maximum in Norway, for murdering 77 people.

The safest countries in the world, from Norway to Japan, tend to have a level of ethnic homogeneity. In Scandinavia large-scale immigration is seeing a lift in crime rates but that’s a column for another day.

Singapore is one of the world’s safest countries and is unapologetically tough on crimes big and small. The zero tolerance approach sees severe penalties for even minor offences including property crimes.

Of course the state Labor Government is outraged by the Opposition plans that have been widely applauded by everyday Victorians.

“The Liberals plan is flawed, uncosted and has no real detail about how it will work,” Attorney-General Martin Pakula said.

“They failed to get baseline sentencing right, they failed to get CCOs right and now they have failed to think this plan through.”

Pakula also pointed to the $400-$500 million per year he said it would cost the state to implement the policy.

One would’ve thought that was a small price to pay to increase the safety of citizens.

Law and order is the number one issue in Victoria and the state Opposition has put forward a comprehensive plan.

Voters have two clear options and will ultimately determine whether we proceed down the current path or try a radically new approach to tackle crime.

Rita Panahi is a Herald Sun columnist

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