<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <docID>326392</docID> <postdate>2024-08-13 12:49:11</postdate> <headline>Allan accused of treachery over raise the age backflip</headline> <body><p><img class="size-full wp-image-326396" src="https://citynews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/20240430144809630791-original-resized.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600" /></p> <caption>Youth crime remains a controversial issue in Victoria with the government finally moving on reforms. (Jono Searle/AAP PHOTOS)</caption> <p><span class="kicker-line">By <strong>Callum Godde</strong> in Melbourne</span></p> <p><strong>The Victorian government has been accused of betraying Indigenous people after sensationally abandoning a promise to raise the age of criminal responsibility to 14.</strong></p> <p>Premier Jacinta Allan on Tuesday announced the backflip on the long-advocated reform ahead of state parliament resuming.</p> <p>The state government is pushing on with legislation to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 12 and other youth justice changes.</p> <p>It originally planned under former premier Daniel Andrews to lift the age to 14 by 2027, with exceptions for serious offences such as rape and murder.</p> <p>But following a series of prominent incidents involving youth offenders, including two fatal car crashes in less than two months, the government has watered down the reforms.</p> <p>"Twelve is where it will stay," Ms Allan told reporters.</p> <p>"This decision has been made at a different time by a different government with a different premier."</p> <p>No children under 14 were currently incarcerated in Victoria, she said.</p> <p>"The way we keep it that way is passing the youth justice bill that's before the parliament because it is transformative reform," Ms Allan said.</p> <p>The government will move amendments to the contentious bill in the upper house.</p> <p>They include changes to the Bail Act to highlight aggravated burglary, carjacking and home invasion as crimes that pose an unacceptable community risk and a new charge of committing a serious offence while on bail for adults and children.</p> <p>The moves will result in fewer people being released while awaiting trial.</p> <p>Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes argued the new bail offence was different from those of breaching conditions and committing further offences while on bail that were repealed in March.</p> <p>"It was remanding vulnerable cohorts," she said.</p> <p>"What we're bringing back is an offence for committing high-end serious harm."</p> <p>Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton welcomed the raise the age backflip and the targeting of dangerous driving, aggravated burglary, home invasion and armed robbery.</p> <p>"These are the offences we want to protect the community from and this will give us the power and the authority to do it," he said.</p> <p>But the backdown on raising the age to 14 has lead to fierce backlash from Indigenous, legal and youth groups.</p> <p>Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service chief executive Nerita Waight described it as a decision to abandon Indigenous children, labelling it "treacherous".</p> <p>Yoorrook Justice Commission chair Eleanor Bourke said it would unleash a "tsunami of disappointment" among their communities.</p> <p>"This decision means our people will continue to suffer for generations to come," Yoorrook deputy chair Sue-Anne Hunter said.</p> <p>The Human Rights Commission said the "heartless move" would "break children's lives and cause avoidable lifelong harm", accusing the premier of capitulating to police and conservative media.</p> <p>Save the Children and Jesuit Social Services also criticised the decision.</p> <p>Children as young as 10 can be charged, convicted and imprisoned across Australia, except in the Northern Territory, which raised the age of criminal responsibility to 12 in August 2023.</p> <p>The ACT passed legislation to raise the age to 14 by 2025 with some exceptions, while Tasmania has pledged to raise the minimum age of criminal detention to 14.</p> <div class="wire-column__preview__text" id="preview-body"> <p>Police are still searching for the driver of a stolen BMW that struck and killed 19-year-old motorcyclist Davide Pollina at Preston on Sunday.</p> <p>A 16-year-old boy suspected passenger of the BMW was arrested before being released.</p> <p>William Taylor, 28, and GP Ashley Gordon were killed in July and January respectively following incidents allegedly involving teenagers.</p> <p>The number of alleged offenders in the 15 to 17 age bracket spiked by almost 25 per cent to 15,495 in the year to March.</p> </div> </body>