Judiciary under fire from Peter Dutton on street gang crime

Peter Dutton has ramped up his attack on Daniel ­Andrews over his government’s handling of street gang crime.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton at Parliament House, Canberra. Picture: Kym Smith

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has ramped up his attack on Victorian Premier Daniel ­Andrews over his government’s handling of street gang crime, criticising Labor’s judicial ­appointments, which he says have led to soft bail decisions.

On Mr Andrews’s first day back at work after a Christmas and New Year break, Mr Dutton said the Premier was “travelling in some parallel universe” and decisions by magistrates to grant ­alleged gang offenders bail had contributed to the law and order problems in Victoria.

“This is a problem that is concentrated in Victoria,” Mr Dutton told Adelaide radio. “There’s a problem with some of the judges and magistrates Daniel Andrews has appointed … I think some of the bail decisions that have been made have been criticised by (his) own ministers.”

Victoria’s Police Minister, Lisa Neville, was forced to deal with a political firestorm this month when a Children’s Court magistrate bailed a teenager who allegedly kicked a policeman in the head at Highpoint Shopping Centre on Boxing Day. The magistrate, Michelle Hodgson, was appointed by the Brumby Labor government in 2008.

A different magistrate later revoked the alleged ­offender’s bail after he breached the conditions, but said Ms Hodgson had made the correct decision.

Mr Andrews yesterday acknowledged that Victoria had a gang crime issue and said he had met Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton for a briefing on a string of violent ­attacks allegedly committed by African-Australian street gangs over the summer period.

Mr Ashton inadvertently fanned residents’ anger over law and order on Wednesday when he said it was “garbage” Victoria had a crime crisis.

The Premier said there had been a string of “nasty incidents” but rejected suggestions the gang issue had reached a “crisis”.

“As someone who proudly lives in Melbourne’s suburbs, I am completely confident that Graham Ashton and Victoria Police ... are turning this around,” Mr ­Andrews said. “We can be confident they are the best police force in our nation and that is ­already delivering ­results. It is arrests we need in the first instance, not excuses.” The Andrews government has appointed 31 magistrates and County Court judges since December 2014.

Mr Dutton said the seeds of the law and order issue had been sown by Labor appointments to the judiciary which were handing questionable bail decisions.

“Mr Andrews’s own ministers have pointed out that the decisions around bail which result in young criminals committing offences and then being back out on the street within hours, reoffending, is a fundamental part of the problem,” Mr Dutton told The Australian. “Now Mr Andrews doesn’t ­address any of that.”

Mr Dutton said the premier needed to apologise for mistakes which had led to the recent violence. “I think Daniel Andrews is travelling in some parallel universe which puts him at complete odds with the Victorian public,” Mr Dutton said.

Former senior members of the state’s judiciary and police force have argued against Mr Dutton, saying the government’s failure lay not in its judicial appointments but its delay in implementing bail and sentencing reforms.

Former Victorian chief magistrate Nick Papas QC said Mr Dutton’s criticism was misdirected. “The Home Affairs Minister is playing a very dangerous game,” he said. “If we want changes then they have to be driven by the legislation of the day. The judiciary simply carries out its job and that’s to read the law. Don’t blame the courts because they’re working under a structure.

“To suggest the Andrews government has somehow changed the judiciary in a manner that’s led it to be softer is, quite frankly, wrong and misguided.”

Former Victoria Police assistant commissioner Noel Ashby took aim at the government for its failure to reform bail. He said the state’s judiciary was hamstrung in getting tough on young offenders because the first clause of the state’s bail act says a person “shall” be granted bail, with the exception of murder and treason offences.

The Andrews government is midway through reforming the bail system with changes including a presumption against bail for a host of violent crimes, and a new bar that puts community safety as the first test a judge has to consider in a bail decision.