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Danny O'Brien criticises limited changes to bail laws, stating they fall short in addressing rising youth crime rates in Gippsland

Danny O'Brien criticizes recent bail law changes, arguing they fail to address rising youth crime and its impact on Gippsland communities. Crime rates continue to climb across Gippsland's local government areas.

By news@gippsland - 25th March 2025 - Back to News

Improvements to bail laws passed by the State Parliament last week can't come soon enough as crime rates soar across Gippsland. The Nationals Member for Gippsland South, Danny O'Brien has expressed concern that the changes don't go far enough to address the crime epidemic facing Gippsland.

Danny O'Brien pointed out that recent crime data showed rising criminal incidents across Gippsland South's three local government

Weak bail laws

Mr O'Brien said, "The State Labor government weakened our bail laws and has been brought kicking and screaming to change them again, but they have still not gone as far as the laws were previously. Sadly, the changes sent a signal to many criminals, especially youth, that there would be no consequences for their actions and we have seen a youth crime wave as a result."

"Right here in Gippsland South there is a young boy who police tell me has been charged and bailed around 50 times. No-one wants to be locking up kids. But when you have got kids, whether they are 14 or 17 and a half, who are repeatedly causing trouble in the community and committing crimes."

"Serious crimes like carjackings and aggravated burglary, coming into a house with a machete or a knife or a baseball bat and stealing people's vehicles, going on joy rides and the like - that has to have some consequences. These changes simply do not go far enough to stop the crime wave that the Allan Labor government started when it weakened our bail laws to begin with," he said.

Rising crime rates

Mr O'Brien highlighted that crime data released late last week showed the number of criminal incidents reported in the three local government areas that make up Gippsland South was continuing to rise."

"Wellington Shire rose 17.5 per cent in 2024 while there was a 6.3 percent increase in South Gippsland and 11.6 per cent in Latrobe. We are particularly seeing a huge increase in the number of youth offenders and it doesn't take a genius to recognise the correlation with these numbers and our weakened bail laws," he said.

Pictures from Danny O'Brien MP Instagram page.

Source: http://gippsland.com/

Published by: news@gippsland.com