Steve Price: Crime soars while bail laws get softened: Welcome to Victoria

Victoria’s bail laws were weakened as a youth crime crisis swept Melbourne, and the reasons why are a blueprint for what hard left governments do to keep their inner-city base happy.

Victoria’s bail laws were weakened in the middle of a youth crime crisis.

On August 14 last year the Victorian Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes softened our state’s bail laws.

Daniel Andrews was still Premier – he quit six weeks later – but these destructive changes would have been ticked off by Cabinet and the current Premier Jacinta Allan had a seat at that table as deputy premier.

The bail laws were weakened in the middle of a youth crime crisis with aggravated home invasions, car jackings and thefts, ram raids and knife and machete crime sweeping Melbourne. How dumb was that!

The reasons for making bail laws easier for teenage offenders to get released are a blueprint of what hard left governments do to keep their inner-city base happy and hopefully prevent them voting Greens.

I’ll take you back to the media release issued by Minister Symes on Attorney General letterhead on that day back in August 2023, shortly, but let’s fast-forward 12 months to this week and the case of a 17-year-old who allegedly killed William Taylor.

It’s as good an example as you could ask for on why that politically correct decision by Symes endorsed by Andrews and Allan was so stupid.

On August 14 last year the Victorian Attorney General Jaclyn Symes softened our state’s bail laws. Picture: Diego Fedele

William, a trainee doctor, died in a road accident in Burwood this month.

On the night of July 2, Dr Taylor was on his way home from work when a stolen Jeep Cherokee allegedly travelling at an estimated 120km/h collided with his Toyota Corolla. Tragically, William died at the scene. After the accident the Jeep carried on and crashed into a tree, with police alleging the six occupants fled on foot.

One of those – police allege – is a 17-year-old we cannot name. He has now been bailed twice since his initial arrest. In the first instance following the accident a magistrate granted bail to the teenager who then breached bail conditions breaking a curfew before being arrested again 48 hours later.

On Monday this week, a magistrate granted the 17-year-old bail again. The magistrate called his previous bail breach “incredibly problematic” but she did not think he posed an unacceptable risk of doing so again.

The magistrate added: “You come before court with a demonstrated shocking history in relation to bail. You need to understand this is your last chance”.

These destructive changes would have been ticked off by Cabinet and the current Premier Jacinta Allan had a seat at that table as deputy premier. Picture: Diego Fedele

Prosecutors opposed bail for the teenager, pointing out in court he had not identified his alleged co-offenders and made the point he had previously shown no regard for his bail conditions the first time. The teenager’s lawyer told the court the prosecution case was not strong, and questions remained about the identity of the driver of the Jeep.

Bail was granted again, with the magistrate ordering the boy to reside with his mother, abide by another curfew, attend youth justice appointments, not associate with co-offenders and participate in judicial monitoring.

William Taylor died while simply driving home from work. A tragedy beyond comprehension.

Let’s go back now to August 2023 almost exactly one year ago and that media release, in the middle of a teenage crimewave, that announced Victoria’s bail laws would not be tightened but instead weakened.

This was a Labor government under Premier Andrews chucking out tougher bail laws because they were introduced by the Liberals and Nationals during their short stint in office. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

Issued by Attorney General Symes – who under normal circumstances would now be out of a job – she defended the change as important to reduce unnecessary remand for people accused of low-level offending.

Then remarkably the release went on to make this staggering statement: the bail offence of breaching bail conditions and committing further offences while on bail will be repealed.

The justification for this change says it all.

The release told us that those offences were introduced in 2013 – during the last Liberal-National coalition government – and had been shown to disproportionally impact women, children and Aboriginal people with no clear deterrent, benefit or improvement to community safety.

William Taylor died while simply driving home from work. Picture: Victoria Police

This was a Labor government under Premier Andrews chucking out tougher bail laws because they were introduced by the Liberals and Nationals during their short stint in office. It was also a Labor government responding to lobbying from Indigenous groups around the incarceration of Aboriginal women and teenagers.

Attorney General Symes called the reforms “sensible, proportionate and necessary”, while conceding she had a responsibility to protect the community from serious offenders.

Let’s have a look at how that’s travelling a year on from the changes.

In a state with 133 magistrates, sitting in 51 jurisdictions, and being paid on average just shy of $350,000 a year each, crimes committed by children, teenagers and offenders repeatedly let out on bail, has exploded.

Tributes are left at the Burwood intersection where 28-year-old Ashburton man William Taylor was killed in a horror crash. Picture: Mark Stewart

Criminal offences by children aged 14 to 17-years-old is up 30 per cent year on year, the highest number since 2009. Crimes by the 10- to 13-year-old group up 22.5 per cent and at the younger end incredibly, crimes by 10- to 11-year-olds up by a whopping 65 per cent.

During a recent radio interview, Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton really nailed it for his Premier and Attorney-General. Police, he said, knew of 381 youth gang members with a core group off 244 who have been arrested more than three times. Sixty-five have been arrested more than ten times.

Softer bail laws and increased crime – I rest my case.

Dislikes

• Confirmation from the RACV that Victoria’s pot-holed roads are a dangerous disgrace

• Foreign wind-farm operators gouging multi-million-dollar subsidies in Victoria pushing up power prices

• Frustrating habit of gold medal winning Aussies biting their medals in photo-ops

• Inflated salaries of public servants on big build projects earning over half a million dollars each

Likes

• Athletes in Paris rebelling against crazy French plan to feed them vegan food

• Former ABC Chair Ita Buttrose calling out ABC staff for failing to present a balanced debate

• Australia’s female swimmers dominating at the Paris Olympics

• Inflation staying relatively flat hopefully avoiding an interest rate rise by the Reserve Bank next week