Victoria abandons promise to raise age of criminal responsibility to 14

Premier Jacinta Allan has abandoned her promise to raise the age of criminal responsibility to 14, sparking fury from Indigenous groups as the Labor leader corralled cabinet into supporting the controversial policy backdown.

Aboriginal legal workers said the “treacherous decision” – the latest U-turn from Allan on Labor’s progressive promises made under Daniel Andrews – was a betrayal of Indigenous Victorians, as the opposition said the government was scrambling to fix a problem of its own making.

With Labor’s primary vote dropping and a series of high-profile violent youth crimes making headlines, Allan on Tuesday announced the state would no longer raise the age of criminal responsibility from 12 to 14.

“There is a concern about this repeat pattern of serious, high-risky offending that a certain group of young people are engaging in,” Allan said. “We have seen a change in behaviour now, whether it’s COVID ... it’s existing here and now.”

She also brought amendments to the government’s youth justice bill and further bail reforms that included what the government says is a “new” offence for committing a serious crime while on bail – after Labor abolished the offence only last year.

“We know we need to go further,” Allan said. “I want to go further to make sure the laws are as strong as they need to be.”

Premier Jacinta Allan (left), Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes and Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton on Tuesday.Credit: Jason South

Currently, children as young as 10 can be arrested, charged and jailed in juvenile detention. The Allan government planned to raise the age of criminal responsibility in Victoria in two stages: first from 10 to 12, and later from 12 to 14. The commitment to raise the age to 12 remains in the current bill, but the second stage has been cut for good.

“This decision has been made at a different time by a different government with a different premier,” Allan said in explaining the government’s latest position.

Four government sources, speaking anonymously to detail confidential cabinet discussions, said Police Minister Anthony Carbines led the push in cabinet to abandon the promise, and Allan backed him over ministers who wanted to stick to the Andrews-era policy.

Allan last publicly backed raising the age to 14 in March. The Resolve Political Monitor has shown Labor’s primary vote has crashed from 39 per cent when Allan took over as premier in September, to 27 per cent in July.

Last year, the government abolished breaching bail as an offence following a damning coronial inquiry into the death of an Aboriginal woman in custody. That offence will now be reinstated.

Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes said she was not concerned vulnerable people committing low-level offences could be caught up in the change again.

“What we’re bringing back is an offence for committing high-end, serious harm,” Symes said. “This is all about consequences where appropriate.”

Under the changes announced on Tuesday, the bail test will be strengthened to make clear that a person should be remanded if there is an “unacceptable risk” they could commit aggravated burglary, carjacking, dangerous driving or family violence.

Nerita Waight, the head of the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service, accused the government of bowing to a scare campaign.

The changes will also clarify police powers to revoke bail for breaches. All bail changes relate to both children and adults.

The Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service said Allan had bowed to a scare campaign.

“We trusted the Victorian government, and we have been betrayed by their treacherous decision to abandon our children,” chief executive Nerita Waight said.

The First Peoples’ Assembly, which will begin treaty negotiations with the state this year, questioned whether the government could listen to Aboriginal people.

“Like every Aboriginal mother hearing this news, I am deeply disappointed and concerned. Children need support to learn from mistakes,” assembly co-chair Ngarra Murray said.

The Yoorrook truth-telling commission said Aboriginal children were 10.6 times more likely to be imprisoned than non-Indigenous children, and that raising the age of criminal responsibility to 14 was a critical step to rectifying historical injustices faced by First Peoples.

“This decision is so contrary to the evidence it is difficult to comprehend,” Yoorrook chair Professor Eleanor Bourke said.

The Human Rights Law Centre said the earlier a child entered prison, the more likely they were to be entrenched in the system. The Aboriginal Justice Caucus, Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation, Jesuit Social Services, Save the Children and Les Twentyman Foundation also condemned the government’s move.

Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton stood with the government for Tuesday’s announcement and said the reforms would ultimately mean fewer people would be released on bail.

“This is targeting those people that the community is in uproar about,” Patton said. “From my point of view, this is a very good thing.”

Police Association of Victoria secretary Wayne Gatt said community safety and the rights of victims of crime should always be paramount.

“Police members grow frustrated by the constant yo-yo effect of tightening and loosening legislation that impacts community safety. The government’s endless vacillation on law and order issues demoralises police members, who devote their career to the protection of victims of crime and the community,” Gatt said.

The government had already dumped plans to make it easier for children to get bail from a broader bail reform bill last year. Those changes were to be included in the standalone youth justice bill, but the commitment was scrapped in March.

The latest backflip follows a raft of about-faces under Allan, from when her government ditched the CBD injecting room – the first major progressive policy to go after she succeeded Andrews. The government has also dumped Arden’s hospital campus and recently shifted tack on hospital funding.

The opposition said bail laws should never have been weakened.

“It’s sent a signal throughout our justice system and put community safety second in the order of priorities,” Opposition Leader John Pesutto said.

Yoorrook Justice Comissioner Wergaia and Wamba Wamba elder Professor Eleanor Bourke.Credit: Justin McManus

Sentencing data is not yet available since the most recent bail reforms came into effect in March. However, Corrections Victoria data has shown a 14.3 per cent reduction in the number of people remanded for offences they have not yet been found guilty of between March and June.

Allan and Symes said there were no children aged 13 or under in Victorian prisons on Tuesday.

The youth justice bill, which will be debated in the upper house this week, also proposes to boost the capacity of the Children’s Court, provide youth supervision orders and trial of ankle bracelets on 50 young offenders.

A new advisory council codenamed COBRA — comprising youth justice experts, police and schools — will look at what is driving serious, repeat youth offenders.

Greens leader Ellen Sandell said Allan had shown Victorians what “weak and cowardly leadership looks like”.

“This broken promise today is heartless and it is a complete betrayal of First Nations elders, leaders, communities and also experts who have been telling us for years what the government needs to do,” Sandell said.

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