The Nationals’ Member for Shepparton District, Kim O’Keeffe, has raised her concerns regarding the recent acts of youth violence.
In raising the issue in Parliament this week, Ms O’Keeffe said the violent incidents over the past week which involved a number of local school students, have left victims traumatised, families distressed and members of the community deeply concerned about the safety of children.
“These recent incidents are currently under police investigation, and they are distressful and hard to comprehend.
“My thoughts are with those who have been affected, and no child or family should have to be dealing with this. Our whole community are shocked and disgusted, and the families of the victims have had an overwhelming amount of offers of support across the whole community.
“The message is clear; we will not just stand by and tolerate this behaviour. Every member of our community has the right to feel safe at school, on our streets and going about their daily lives.
“The community expects strong action to support victims, and that offenders are held accountable and to ensure appropriate intervention occurs before young people become involved in more serious offending,” Ms O’Keeffe said.
Ms O’Keeffe urged that local police, schools, youth services and the community must work together to do all that can be done in stopping this unacceptable criminal and alarming behaviour, but it cannot be done alone.
“The Allan Labor Government must ensure that these agencies, and all involved have the resources, funding and support they need to put in measures to prevent this behaviour, intervene early, engage with vulnerable young people, and respond when problems arise.
“When young people find themselves heading down the wrong path, we need strong intervention, meaningful support and clear accountability to help turn their lives around before more harm is done.
“Clearly what is being done now is not working and these recent incidents are not isolated, the rise in youth crime and violence has increased, but what is alarming is the young age of many of these offenders.
“If this is what some of our young people are capable of, we have to stand together to stop this disgusting, criminal and unacceptable behaviour. The Allan Labor Government are soft on crime, they have weakened bail laws, and incidents of crime and youth crime continue to rise.”
Ms O’Keeffe emphasised only the Nationals and Liberals have a clear plan to deliver safer communities through real consequences for crime, real tools for police and real support to turn lives around.
“By investing in programs such as Restart and Youthstart, these programs will deliver a genuine pathway out of crime while making sure the community is protected as well as giving young people a new start away from toxic environments and towards education, jobs and community.
“We will make sure that mentoring and rehabilitation are part of a structured justice pathway with measurable results unlike Jacinta Allan and Labor, who are simply ignoring the escalating youth crime that is impacting on communities.”
