Slam the jail door on thugs

IF Victorians ever doubted they were in the grip of a youth crime wave, the alarming events of the past week will have convinced them.

Keeping young thugs under lock and key has not been possible at detention centres where they have rioted and caused millions of dollars in damage.

IF Victorians ever doubted they were in the grip of a youth crime wave, the alarming events of the past week will have convinced them.

A Labor Government that has been soft on juvenile crime is now taking the unprecedented step of gazetting a jail unit within the maximum-security Barwon Prison, or the Metropolitan Remand Centre, where murderers and rapists are among prisoners awaiting sentence.

Keeping young thugs under lock and key has not been possible at detention centres where they have rioted and caused millions of dollars in damage.

The Mill Park police station in Melbourne’s northern suburbs has been gazetted as a youth justice centre to hold at least six of the rioters from the Parkville youth justice centre.

This only stretches police resources and does nothing to restore a detention system in crisis.

Chaos might be a better word after at least 40 young offenders, euphemistically referred to as “clients’’ at Parkville, rampaged through the sprawling facility, which has swimming pools, tennis and basketball courts and sports ovals.

These generous taxpayer-funded facilities are intended to help rehabilitate young offenders, but inside the gates the centre resembles a war zone. There have also been riots at the Malmsbury Youth Justice Centre, where staff have also been intimidated and assaulted.

This cannot continue. One of the problems for the government now desperately trying to regain control of the shambles is that Children’s and Magistrates’ courts release young offenders on bail, seemingly as a matter of course, putting them back on the streets to commit further crimes. This has contributed to a cycle of law-breaking. Teenagers who are sentenced to youth detention come under the influence of other young offenders, who draw them further into violent crime.

Authorities face legal difficulties in trying to have teenagers accommodated in adult prisons and a stand-alone prison may have to be built to accommodate the worst of these young thugs.

What has stunned police is the brazenness with which these attacks are carried out. Youths, often difficult to identify in their hoodies, have carried out robberies on jewellery stores.

This utter contempt for the law will continue until Premier Daniel Andrews gives Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton the extra frontline police he needs.

Lalor store owner Matt Santoro, who faced down the thugs, summed up what is an increasing reaction to violent juvenile crime: “If you’re old enough to commit armed burglary, you’re old enough to go to jail.’’

This utter contempt for the law will continue until Premier Daniel Andrews gives Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton the extra frontline police he needs.

The arrest of three teens believed to have been involved in the latest jewellery store robbery followed a Hollywood-style chase that brought traffic on the West Gate Bridge to a standstill for several hours.

Putting young thugs behind bars with meaningful sentences will send a message that cannot be misunderstood. As the juvenile justice system now stands, it is incapable of holding violent young thugs to account.

The jail door must be slammed shut. Young thugs must be sent to serious prisons, not youth holiday camps.

Victorians will be disappointed Neale Daniher was not chosen on their behalf to be Victorian Australian of the Year for 2017.

SHOULD BE DANIHER

VICTORIANS will be disappointed Neale Daniher was not chosen on their behalf to be Victorian Australian of the Year for 2017.

The announcement last night that a panel, including staff from the ABC and Fairfax, has given the prestigious award to refugee advocate Paris Aristotle was not entirely unexpected; given that glib Left-wing broadcaster Waleed Aly was one of the finalists.

Mr Aristotle was appointed to Labor prime minister Julia Gillard’s Expert Panel on Asylum Seekers in 2012.

He has worked on both sides of politics and was appointed by then prime minister Tony Abbott to lead the Resettlement Advisory Council after Mr Abbott declared Australia would resettle 12,000 refugees fleeing the conflict in Syria.

Mr Aristotle recommended restarting offshore processing but now wants centres on Manus Island and Nauru closed down, urging the Turnbull Government to abandon the policy because of the risk of self-harm.

The Herald Sun, while having regard for Mr Aristotle’s work on behalf of refugees, believes the award should have gone to Mr Daniher.

The former Essendon Football Club champion and Melbourne Football Club coach has inspired countless Victorians and raised millions of dollars for research in his fight against the ravages of motor neurone disease. He has given new hope to sufferers of the disease he calls The Beast.

That he was not selected as the state’s finalist says more about the leanings of the judging panel.

The Australian of the Year award, for which the state winners qualify, must return to mainstream values. Rewarding someone whose work in a politically and socially charged area is more likely to divide Victorians rather than unite them.