Hansard debates

Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for the Suburban Rail Loop, Minister for Housing and Building, Minister for Development Victoria and Precincts) (17:37): I move:

That the bill be now read a second time.

Ordered that second-reading speech be incorporated into Hansard:

The Justice Legislation Amendment (Community Safety) Bill 2025 (Bill) will implement the Government’s Adult Time for Violent Crime policy, delivering serious consequences for children who commit violent crimes that hurt victims and the community.

The Bill builds on significant reforms passed by Parliament this year to protect the community, including bail reform, strengthening victim safety and perpetrator accountability measures relating to family violence and creating a new ‘post and boast’ offence targeting those who publish material that seeks to glorify criminal behaviour.

Equally, the Bill lays the foundations to support the broader elements of the Government’s Serious Consequences, Early Interventions plan to reduce youth crime and crime committed by children in Victoria.

Specifically, the Bill delivers on the Government’s commitments to:

• ensure children aged 14 and above who commit specified violent crimes face the prospect of adult sentences in adult courts

• increase maximum penalties for the violent crimes of most concern to the Victorian community

• create a new knife crime offence, and expand the existing offence of carjacking

• change the sentencing principles that Courts must apply in relation to all children, to reflect the importance of, and give greater priority to, community safety and the impact of offending of victims, and to remove the statutory requirement that jail is a ‘last resort’ for children.

Children accused of high violence offending will be dealt with by an adult court and face the prospect of adult sentences if found guilty

Currently, few children face trial in an adult court with a jury. Under Adult Time for Violent Crime, we will change the status quo and deliver serious consequences for children who commit brazen, violent crimes that devastate victims and the community.

The offences of home invasion, aggravated home invasion, aggravated carjacking, and intentionally or recklessly causing serious injury in circumstances of gross violence will have to be heard in the County Court if the accused child is 15 to 17 years old – without exception. If the child is 14, the matter will be heard in the County Court unless certain circumstances apply. These circumstances include the accused child’s cognitive impairment or mental illness, substantial and compelling reasons why the matter should be heard by the Children’s Court, or when it is in the victim’s best interests for the matter to proceed in the Children’s Court. The trial and sentencing of children aged 14 to 17 years old for carjacking will also be heard in the County Court unless these circumstances apply.

We know that there is a core group of young offenders engaged in serious and repeated aggravated burglaries and armed robberies – and the community has had enough. That is why the Bill provides legislative guidance that the Children’s Court considers repeat and serious aggravated burglaries and armed robberies as relevant when it is deciding whether exceptional circumstances exist that will move the matter to the County Court.

Any related indictable offending that occurs alongside uplifted serious and violent conduct must also be heard in the County Court, unless certain circumstances apply. The Bill provides that a related offence means an indictable offence founded on the same facts as the uplifted offence, or that together forms part of a series of offences of the same or similar character (where, for example, the Court will weigh up things like how close together in time the offences were, as well as where the offences occurred, and their similarity to each other, in deciding whether they are related and uplift is warranted).

Longer maximum sentences, including life imprisonment, for violent offences

There is growing community concern that serious offenders are not being held accountable for their criminal behaviour.

To deter and denounce incidents of serious violent and confrontational offending, this Bill will introduce higher maximum penalties for certain offences that cause a high level of fear or harm to victims and which erode the community’s sense of safety and security.

The Bill amends the Crimes Act 1958 to increase the maximum penalties for:

• Aggravated home invasion, from 25 years’ imprisonment to life imprisonment

• Aggravated carjacking, from 25 years’ imprisonment to life imprisonment

• Intentionally causing serious injury in circumstances of gross violence, from 20 years’ imprisonment to 25 years’ imprisonment.

• Recklessly causing serious injury in circumstances of gross violence, from 15 years’ imprisonment to 20 years’ imprisonment

• Recruiting a child to engage in criminal activity, from 10 years’ imprisonment to 15 years’ imprisonment.

Maximum penalties provide guidance to courts about the Parliament’s view of the gravity of a particular offence and are a mandatory consideration for courts determining appropriate sentences. Higher maximum penalties will give courts broader scope to impose more severe sentences for the most serious cases, better reflecting the community’s expectations. These offences target objectively serious conduct. Increasing the maximum penalties denounces this conduct in the strongest terms and helps ensure that people who commit these offences will face appropriately strong consequences.

The Bill will also add recruiting a child to engage in criminal activity to a list of indictable offences that can be heard summarily, ensuring that the offence can continue to be heard in the Magistrates’ Court where appropriate after the maximum penalty is increased.

Principles for sentencing children will emphasise community safety, recognise impact on victims and remove reference to ‘custody as a last resort’

The Bill makes changes that will prioritise the consideration of community protection and impact on victims when young people are sentenced. Right now, judges are guided by legislative principles that are often out-of-step with the community’s expectations and don’t always recognise what victims have been through.

The Bill addresses this by changing the sentencing considerations that apply in the Children’s Court under the current Children, Youth and Families Act and the principles that will apply when the Youth Justice Act commences in full. The amended decision-making principles in the Children’s Court will reflect those used for adults. That means that:

• judges will be required to emphasise community safety in sentencing decisions

• judges will have to consider the impact of a child’s offending on the victim, and provide opportunities for the child to try to restore the harm they caused

• ‘custody as a last resort’ will be removed from sentencing principles.

Together, these changes will guide judges to appropriately focus on protecting the community from reoffending and holding offenders to account.

New and amended offences will better respond to community concerns about knife crime and carjacking that puts children at risk

The prevalence of knife crime has had a significant impact both on community safety and the community’s perception of safety – using knives to commit serious and violent offences increase the level of harm caused by crime, exacerbating community concerns and fear. To specifically target and denounce the use of a knife in this way, the Bill introduces a new offence into the Crimes Act that recognises the additional criminality associated with using a knife in the commission of certain serious offences.

While existing laws can capture the underlying conduct (such as causing serious injury) or carrying or possessing a weapon generally, they do not specifically criminalise the use of a knife in committing certain serious offences. The new offence provides additional accountability, sending a strong message that the use of a knife in this way elevates the seriousness of offending, and acknowledges the devastating impact that knife crime has on victims and the broader community.

The new offence criminalises the use of a knife when committing the following serious offences:

• intentionally or recklessly causing injury or serious injury

• assaulting or threatening to assault with intent to commit an indictable offence

• affray, and

• violent disorder.

The scope of the new offence captures antisocial conduct that is of increasing community concern but aims to minimise the risk of giving rise to overlapping charges or double punishment. Other offences such as carjacking and home invasion are also of significant concern, including when knives are used. However, they are not included in the new offence because they already have an ‘offensive weapon’ element (e.g. home invasion and armed robbery) or they have an aggravated version that involves having or using an ‘offensive weapon’ – such as carjacking, which is covered by aggravated carjacking, or theft, which is covered by aggravated burglary or armed robbery.

The new offence will carry a three-year maximum penalty. This is in addition to the penalty for the underlying serious offence. For example, if a person is found guilty of an affray and using a knife when committing that offence, they may be sentenced to a maximum of five years imprisonment for the affray and up to three years imprisonment for the knife crime offence.

A person can only be found guilty of the knife crime offence if they have been found guilty of the relevant underlying offence. However, the Bill makes clear that a person may be charged with the knife crime offence before they are found guilty of the underlying offence. It is expected that the relevant offence and the knife crime offence will generally be charged and proceed together through the court system.

The term ‘knife’ is not defined in the Bill so its ordinary meaning will apply. This is broad enough to capture a range of knives, such as machetes, that are often used in the commission of serious offences. The term ‘use’ is also not defined as whether or not a knife is used in the commission of the offence will depend on the circumstances of each case. For example, this could include using a knife to stab someone resulting in a serious injury or holding a knife and threatening violence during a public fight (affray).

Creating a stand-alone knife crime offence sends a clear message: anyone that uses a knife to injure another person or during a brawl, will face serious consequences.

The Bill also amends the offence of carjacking in the Crimes Act to provide that the offence will apply if a person steals a vehicle with a child victim under the age of 10 present in that vehicle. Currently, carjacking requires a person to steal a car and use force (or put or seek to put another person in fear of being subjected to force).

Recently, innocent children have been caught up in incidents where a person steals a car where a child is already inside. These alleged offenders may not have even turned their mind as to whether anyone is in the back seat. Such brazen acts of violence are terrifying for children and their parents and carers.

The Bill will ensure that in these circumstances, an accused person does not need to use force or put someone in fear to be prosecuted for carjacking. The fact that they have stolen a car with an innocent child inside is sufficient to constitute carjacking, which accurately reflects the seriousness of the conduct.

The Bill makes it clear that it is irrelevant whether the accused knew or was reckless as to whether the child was in the vehicle at the time. This is similar to the home invasion offence, which provides it is irrelevant whether the accused knew or didn’t know that there was someone in the home.

As with the current carjacking offence, this conduct will attract a maximum penalty of 15 years imprisonment.

I commend the Bill to the house.