Motion: Immediate Second Reading - Community Safety Bill

MOTION

‘IMMEDIATE SECOND READING – COMMUNITY SAFETY BILL.’

Tuesday, 2 December 2025

Mr NEWBURY (Brighton) (12:15):

The Coalition will not be opposing the Government ramming through this legislation in what has been anticipated –

Members interjecting.

James NEWBURY: I am speaking to the matter – in a rush of legislation in what is anticipated to be a 5 o’clock guillotine on this Bill. A 5 o’clock guillotine has been anticipated on this Bill, which will mean some 2 hours of debate on this Bill – a very, very short debate on this Bill. Of course the Coalition has been calling for action for years, and now at the eleventh hour, when frankly the Herald Sun has put up some cases that the Government has felt uncomfortable about and the Premier has been asked about them in press conferences, the Government has come along with a Bill and is ramming it through the Chamber because it does not want the broader community to see the detail of the Bill. They do not want the community to see the weakness of the Bill and the loopholes that are in the bill. Only in Victoria can an offender choose not to be dealt with as an adult in an ‘adult crime, adult time’ Bill. Can you imagine?

Matt Fregon interjected.

James NEWBURY: Section 157, Deputy Speaker.

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Brighton, through the Chair.

James NEWBURY: Through the Chair, Speaker. Only in Victoria will offenders in certain circumstances be able to opt out of being treated as an adult. They will be able to request to be dealt with as a child – what a system. I mean, I tell you what –

The SPEAKER: Order! I remind Members that it is not okay to pre-empt debate and what is in the legislation that we are currently introducing to this House.

James NEWBURY: Of course, Speaker. In broad terms on the procedural debate I am setting out the Coalition’s concerns and on the procedural matter the reasoning why the Government is trying to ram this legislation through. Of course I am not going to take the full allocation of 30 minutes – as painful as it is for me, as I am sure you can all imagine – because I know that we will be debating this later and many of my colleagues would like to debate this legislation, but it is an important opportunity to put on record how quickly this Government is trying to ram through this legislation. It is weak and it is full of loopholes, and that is why this legislation is being pushed through this Chamber. It is important to note that. It is important for the House record to record that. The Coalition has been calling for serious laws, for serious action and for serious consequences in this State for years. In fact we have drafted legislation and given it to the Chamber to try and ask – to try and plead, frankly, with this Government to seek action, so I do think it is important to put on record in this procedural debate that we are concerned about the way the Government is managing this legislation. We understand what they are doing. We understand why they are trying to hide the fact that this legislation is weak and full of loopholes. We will, as you pointed out, Speaker, be making that debate in substance later today, when the Government has indicated to us that this Bill will be very, very briefly debated – very, very briefly – and we will talk about that in the Government Business Program debate. But we did want on record our concerns about the way this legislation is being managed and our concerns with it.