Street gangs – our laws must protect the community
Overnight, Premier Daniel Andrews emerged from hiding to issue a statement saying rioting street gangs “will feel the full force of the law”, and today he held a media conference repeating the same message.
The problem is, unless they’re backed by actions, these are empty words that no-one is going to believe, especially when Mr Andrews and his government have been making our laws and their enforcement weaker by the day.
Late last year, the government pushed through changes so juveniles who breach bail conditions will no longer be committing an offence. This means a juvenile will be able to carry out a crime, be charged and released on bail subject to a curfew or other condition, then immediately ignore that condition and yet incur no penalty.
On top of that, the government is refusing to reverse a Court of Appeal ruling that allows serious violent offenders to be released on community based orders – and to get bail ahead of their trial.
Add to that a police force stretched to the limit because the government won’t increase police numbers, and a community services system overwhelmed with young people from broken or dysfunctional families, and it’s no wonder we have riots on our streets and gangs of juveniles invading homes to terrorise families and steal their cars.
No society can function unless people have respect for the law and respect for each other. It’s much better if young people learn those values at home with loving families. But where they can’t or won’t, the law needs to teach that actions have consequences and needs to properly protect the community from criminal behaviour.