Bill - Energy and Legislation Amendment (Energy Safety) Bill 2025

BILL

‘ENERGY AND LAND LEGISLATION AMENDMENT (ENERGY SAFETY) BILL 2025 ‘.

Tuesday, 18 March 2025.

James NEWBURY (Brighton) (15:53):

I rise to speak on the Bail Amendment – so-called – (Tough Bail) Bill 2025. The test for any government is whether they keep their community safe. The core of this bill is whether or not it does anything to stop the crime crisis that is happening in our community. It is happening across the community. It started most recently three years ago in my community, where we saw youth crimes explode and home invasions go from something we had never experienced before to being a regular occurrence in every single street.

What this Bill will not do is fix that crime crisis. We have spoken about bail in this chamber before and the Government has said, ‘We’ve got a set of new measures and we’re going to fix the problem.’ Well, we heard last week the Premier say on the most recent changes that she got it wrong and that those changes did not fix what has become the youth crime crisis in the state. The Premier has acknowledged it herself.

I think the reason why the Government hid this particular Bill is because this Bill will not fix the crime crisis, because this Bill does not deal with some of the core things that need changing. Some of the core changes to law are not dealt with in this Bill. The new bail test for serious repeat offenders is not included in this Bill. The uplift on the new offence of committing an indictable offence while on bail is not included in this bill. If you are not fixing the problem around the bailing of repeat offenders, how can you possibly address the youth crime crisis?

That is what the community has been calling for. The Police Minister himself only an hour ago stood up in his place and said, ‘We know that the same people are committing the offences over and over again,’ yet this Bill does not do anything about them. The community is crying – screaming – for action, yet two of the core things to address the problems that we face are not being dealt with in this Bill. That is why this Government have hidden the bill from the Parliament and from the community, because they thought, ‘Let’s hoodwink everybody and get away with it by calling it the ‘Tough Bail’ Bill.’ Well, the proof will be that crimes will continue.

Over the last two weeks we have seen the Premier use, frankly, different words and try to strongly brand her message: ‘I was wrong. We’re going to do something about it. We’re going to get tough. We’re going to fix it for working families.’ And I thought to myself that her entire strategy has changed. The Government has always been about politics, but the strategy around how the Premier has been delivering the message has changed. Then I learned of course that Brendan Donohoe is back in her office full time, and I thought to myself, ‘Oh, is that what I’m seeing in the strategy?’ because I am definitely seeing a lot more of Dan in the strategy of the messaging from the Premier – and no action. The Premier sacked her chief of staff and brought in Chief Spin. That is what the messaging of the Premier is: Spin.

Nina Taylor: On a point of order, Acting Speaker, I fail to see the relevance of what is being discussed now to the Bill in front of us, and I suggest that the Member return to the bill.

The ACTING SPEAKER (Meng Heang Tak): There has been a wide range of debate, but I ask the member to come back.

James NEWBURY: The Government has been caught out not fixing the core issues needed to be fixed to fix the youth crime crisis in Victoria. Not only does it not include the two offences that at some stage supposedly the Government will address; this bill does not commence for 195 days. This Bill is so urgent it is not going to commence for 195 days. So, I would say to Victorians: remember that this Government do not want to do anything for 195 days, and they also do not want to do anything about serious repeat offenders. So do not listen to Brendan Donohoe’s spin. It is spin. At the end of the day there is a crime crisis in Victoria, and this Government is not fixing it.