Victorian government cops criticism over youth crime as crucial debate over justice bill approaches
Underage crime in Victoria is expected to dominate parliament this week, after the death of a 19-year-old tradie. The Allan government's youth justice bill is due to be debated in the upper house when parliament returns. But now there could be major changes to the promised increase in the age of criminal responsibility.
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00:00David Epelina should have been back on the job with his concreting team this morning.
00:06Devastated for his family, he's only 19, no one should bury their son.
00:15The tradie was killed while on his motorbike in Preston early on Sunday.
00:20Police say he was hit by a stolen car, allegedly carrying a 16-year-old passenger.
00:25He was just a loving kid, he would always bring back his snickers, a red bull for the
00:29boys, you know what I mean, to hand them out.
00:31His death was the second in a month allegedly linked to teenagers in stolen cars, putting
00:37a renewed focus on the state's youth crime crisis.
00:40We're having discussions as colleagues and this has been well reported too with Victoria
00:44Police, the courts and the youth justice sector about what more we need to do.
00:48High on the agenda is walking back a promise to raise the age of criminal responsibility
00:53to 14.
00:54I approach each and every one of these decisions as Minister for Children with the rights of
00:58children first and foremost in my mind.
01:00It's been consulting with, I understand from the information I've received, stakeholders
01:05like the Police Association, which shares our view that there's no case for raising
01:10the age to 14.
01:12In the year to March, the number of offences committed by children aged between 15 and
01:1717 in Victoria rose by 24 per cent according to the most recent crime data.
01:23The number of offences by kids aged 10 to 14 jumped 10 per cent.
01:28In parliament this week, the government's youth justice bill, which would raise the
01:31age of criminal responsibility from 10 years to 12, is due to be debated in the upper house.
01:36What's not included in the bill is a further Labor commitment to raise the age to 14 by
01:422027.
01:43It's totally chaotic.
01:44It's a youth justice bill of over 1,000 pages.
01:48I've been informed this morning that the Allen-Labor government is rushing to create amendments
01:53to this.
01:54For youth sector workers, that's a cause for concern.
01:58Raising the age doesn't mean no consequences, to be clear.
02:03It just means different consequences to policing, courts and jails.
02:08Consequences that will become more clear this week.