Brad Battin vows $100m crime crackdown with Jack’s Law against knife crime
Victorian Opposition Leader Brad Battin will promise a $100m crime crackdown including Jack’s Law against knife crime and youth ‘boot camps’ if the Coalition wins in 2026.
Victorian Opposition Leader Brad Battin will pledge to give police sweeping new powers to tackle the state’s crime crisis, unveiling a $100m law and order package that would equip officers with hand-held metal detectors and send troubled youths to boot camps.
Addressing the Liberal Party’s state council on Saturday, Mr Battin will say that a Coalition government would introduce Jack’s Law, modelled on Queensland legislation, to allow police and protective service officers to conduct random searches in public spaces using portable scanning wands.
The former policeman’s tough-on-crime address comes as the internecine war within the party in the aftermath of MP Moira Deeming’s successful defamation suit against former leader John Pesutto is set to drag on, amid ongoing legal proceedings and elections at state council, which could result in an administrative committee even more paralysed by factional divisions than the present one.
A splinter group of Liberal Party figures, led by administrative committee member Colleen Harkin, is challenging the committee’s $1.55m bailout of Mr Pesutto in the Supreme Court.
Each side is blaming the other for the fact mediation – which was scheduled to take place on or before Friday – has been postponed until October.
State council plans were thrown into disarray when the division’s director, Stuart Smith, quit this week over revelations in The Australian that he sent WhatsApp messages to staff disparaging women and a female state MP.
Party members are divided over whether they should vote for incumbent president Philip Davis, an ally of Mr Smith who wants the Pesutto loan to go ahead, or his challenger Greg Mirabella, who is likely to block the payment.
Victoria is in the grip of a law and order crisis, with crime up 13.2 per cent in 2024, a machete attack that left two boys aged 12 and 15 dead in Melbourne’s west last weekend, and the fatal shooting of two police officers by suspected gunman Dezi Freeman, who remains at large.
“Jack’s Law for Victoria will give police and PSOs hand-held wanding powers in all public places including knife-crime hotspots, public transport zones, and shopping centres,” Mr Battin will tell party members, according to a draft of his speech.
“In Queensland, these powers have taken almost 1200 weapons off the streets and resulted in more than 3200 arrests. If we are serious about stopping violence, then police need the tools and the laws to act,” he will say.
Named after 17-year-old Jack Beasley, who was fatally stabbed in Surfers Paradise in 2019, the Queensland law has permanently enshrined police powers to detect and confiscate knives and machetes from July 2025.
In addition to Jack’s Law, Mr Battin will announce a two-pronged program aimed at tackling youth crime, which he frames as both punitive and rehabilitative.
The Restart program will be a residential responsibility and discipline scheme for repeat young offenders aged 12 to 17, described as a “structured, live-in program” to instil respect for the law through discipline, education, counselling and physical activity.
Meanwhile, within the Liberal Party, lawyers for Mr Davis and 15 other administrative committee members who are defendants against the challenge to the Pesutto loan have issued a summons, seeking to have the case dismissed at what was otherwise scheduled to be a directions hearing on September 25.
In response, lawyers for Ms Harkin have written to Mary Nemeth, the lawyer representing Mr Davis and the other committee members, suggesting that she is unable to represent them due to a conflict of interest.
Committee meeting minutes indicate Ms Nemeth was present as “Vapold solicitor” at a meeting of Vapold Pty Ltd – the associated entity set up by the Victorian Liberal Party to manage its funds – at which it was decided to lend Mr Pesutto the $1.55m.
Ms Harkin’s lawyers argue that it is “almost certain” that Ms Nemeth will be called as a “material witness” in the case, meaning she cannot act for the defendants.
The lawyers also argue that it is inappropriate for one lawyer to act for Mr Davis and the 15 other committee members, given they may have conflicting interests.
Mr Mirabella, who is also named as a defendant, has engaged separate legal counsel for this reason. Ms Deeming is also named as an interested party in the case, and The Australian understands she plans to engage high-profile solicitor Sue Chrysanthou, who acted for her in the Pesutto matter, to appear on her behalf on September 25.
The move paves the way for a theatrical showdown between warring Liberal factions two days before AFL grand final day.
Mr Battin emphasised the military-style approach of the Restart program, promising mandatory physical and emotional activities to build discipline and confidence. The initiative is expected to be branded as “boot camps”, echoing similar schemes in Queensland.
Running alongside Restart will be Youthstart, which aims to divert young people away from crime through “proven community-based interventions” including youth justice hubs, trauma-informed therapy, mentoring and family-based case management.
Together, Mr Battin said, the programs would “break the cycle that leads to a path of crime and create opportunities that build self-confidence, ensuring young people take responsibility and build a future away from crime”.
Mr Battin’s speech will mark his most significant announcements to date as he seeks to pitch his side as the party of law and order ahead of next year’s November election.
His plan follows repeated criticism of Jacinta Allan’s government’s handling of the crime wave. He will cite statistics on Saturday that a crime is being committed every 50 seconds in Victoria, and a car stolen every 17 minutes.
“This is not just political rhetoric; it is what Victorians are living every day,” he will say.
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