What stood out last week at a media conference led by Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan were the real stories of crimes committed against members of Indian, Greek, and other ethnic communities.
Allan said the rise in youth crime was “an important issue for multicultural communities and families, is crime”.
According to the Crime Statistics Agency (CSA) youth crime has increased — particularly violent incidents. These include home invasions while occupants are asleep, carjackings, and attacks involving knives and machetes.
Crimes committed by young people — some as young as 10 and 14 — have surged to the highest level in 15 years. By the end of 2024, incidents involving youth offenders reached 23,810, a 16.9% increase compared to 2023. Over the last decade, youth crime has risen 29%, from 4,853 alleged offender incidents to 6,259 in the past 12 months — particularly in crimes against the person.
(Source: Crime Statistics Victoria). Most incidents are being carried out by a small group of repeat offenders, many of whom are out on bail.
“I’ve sat and listened to the experiences of many victims – when you hear their experiences, when you hear that the trauma that stays with those people, and that their families, potentially for the rest of their lives – it is something that we have to respond to, and we have,” Premier Allan said.
Ultra-violence of youth crime
These crimes — random, violent, and senseless — are causing deep concern, particularly within the Greek, South Asian, Indian, and broader Asian communities.
Premier Allan said that the Victorian Parliament had “recently passed the toughest bail laws in Australia”.
“We responded to that key issue and concern that has been raised by people in our community with this repeat pattern of offending and offending that is in some of the most concerning areas, such as, the aggravated burglary, carjackings, and home invasions.
“We were determined to put bail reforms to the parliament and see them passed as quickly as possible, which I am pleased to say, that they were, and they will be implemented immediately,” the Premier said.
“Community safety will come first in all bail decisions,” she added.
Two new bail offences — “committing an indictable offence while on bail” and “breach of bail conditions” — are now in effect. Both are punishable by up to three months’ imprisonment, in addition to any other sentence imposed for the crime.
Community safety first
The key change is “where all bail decisions must consider community safety first,s said the Victorian premier.
“This is a new regime with consequences if you break the rules. Bail isn’t a right, it’s a privilege, and if you breach bail, if you break the rules, there needs to be consequences and under these changes there are new offences, if you offend once again, whilst on bail.”
Premier Allan also announced Australia’s first machete ban, saying it “comes from listening carefully to communities”.
“These are big, dangerous weapons, and there’s no place for them, no place to them on our on our streets or in our shopping centres, which is why we’ve brought about Australia’s first ban on these dangerous machetes,” she said.
Indian, other Asian, and Greek victims often live in high-migrant areas, where hard-working aspirations can make them more visible targets.
The voice of victims of crime
Neos Kosmos asked the Premier whether what the government is doing to ensure that remand and jail don’t simply turn young offenders into hardened criminals.
Allan said that “context is important” and pointed to “the global inflationary pressures, cost of living pressures, breakdown of social cohesion and the pressures that is putting on families and traditional cultural groups”.
“There’s several reasons, but what’s also a factor — and it’s unacceptable to me — is that there is a group in our community who are engaging in a pattern of incredibly risky behaviour, to themselves, but also behaviour that is impacted on too many people in our community.
“I’ve sat and listened to victims of crime, like a woman whose husband was stabbed chasing an offender from their family home – that to me is absolutely unacceptable.”
She said the system needed a “jolt” to address repeat offending and high-risk behaviours.
“Many Victorians have told me they were frustrated that too many of these repeat offenders were being allowed to offend again… so we had to put a jolt through the system to stop this repeat pattern of offending.”
Iron fist and velvet glove
The Premier emphasised that bail law reforms must be viewed in a broader context. She said Victoria “has the highest number of police of any state jurisdiction in Australia”.
“Victorian Police now have additional tools and resources at their disposal. The laws needed to be changed for us to give police additional powers.”
While underscoring the need for tougher bail laws, Premier Allan said it is also vital to intervene early and support young offenders.
“That is why some of the changes we made last year in terms of the youth justice framework — like stronger diversionary programs that involve Victoria Police — are so important.
We’re making sure that rehabilitation programs start from the moment a young person offends. If they end up in remand, those programs should commence immediately — not only after incarceration begins.”
She said, “The best antidotes, the best solutions for young people are to engage them meaningfully in education and training and in jobs.
“We will continue to have a focus on how we can continue to support pathways for young people into jobs.”
Allan also underscored specific programs tailored to multicultural communities – such as the higher crimes by young people from specific migrant communities.
Premier Allen said that the response was holistic and systemic.
“We respond as a system, but in terms of the tough new bail laws there was, at the heart of that, a need that had to be addressed — and we addressed it with the laws that went through the Parliament.”
