Allan Labor Government Invests in a Safer Victoria,

Helping Families By Keeping Our Communities Safe

The Allan Labor Government is investing in a safer Victoria – reducing reoffending, holding serious offenders to account, and providing vital support to our hardworking emergency services. The Victorian Budget 2024/25 delivers more than $1 billion for our justice system and emergency management response and recovery – as Victoria rebuilds from another summer of floods, storms, and fire.

Keeping communities safe is at the core of our work to modernize our justice system. That means making sure we hold offenders to account while also supporting them to turn their lives around.

This Budget includes $34.4 million for an enhanced bail supervision and support model and to trial electronic monitoring for a specific group of young offenders. This will act as an extra tool to help ensure that bail conditions are followed and encourage young people to take the opportunity of bail as a chance to get back on track.

We also want to help more young people keep out of trouble and stay in schools and jobs. This Budget invests $34.8 million in programs that prevent young people from re-entering the justice system.

These investments will hold young people to account and give them the support they need to get on track, with funding for the Weekend Online Remand Court and Youth Justice Bail After-hours service.

We’re also supporting Balit Ngulu, delivered by the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service, which provides crucial legal advice and assistance to Victorian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people who come into contact with the justice system.

To continue addressing the overrepresentation of Aboriginal people in the justice system, a further investment of $28.2 million will back Aboriginal-led specialist family violence services and youth diversion services, as well as dedicated in-prison programs and supports.

We’ll also continue our Youth Crime Prevention and Early Intervention Project, with $6.6 million for Victoria Police to continue this successful program in Brimbank and Wyndham – and expand it to more suburbs and regional Victoria.

The Budget will support vulnerable kids to stay in education and break the cycle of disadvantage, with $28.4 million for a suite of initiatives to support students in the justice system – and $8.4 million to better support children in out-of-home care and strengthen the LOOKOUT program in schools and kinders.

Addressing the causes of offending is key to helping people stay out of the justice system – as part of a $41.3 million package, we’ll support adults in custody with family engagement services, transitional housing support, mental health, and other key services.

Every day our emergency services are on the frontline, protecting Victorians from fires, floods, and other incidents – we’re making sure they have the equipment they need to do their job.

The Budget will provide $18.6 million to deliver 15 world-class replacement pumpers for CFA and $15.4 million for five Fire Rescue Victoria pumper platforms.

This brings our total investment in new fire services vehicles to more than $100 million since 2018 – with 29 new ultra-heavy tankers, 48 heavy tankers, and two light tankers for the CFA, and 22 new trucks and support vehicles currently on the way for FRV.

Volunteers are at the heart of our emergency services – giving up their time to protect their towns. VICSES will receive almost $7 million for their crucial services, including funding to deliver volunteer training and encourage more selfless and dedicated Victorians to join their local unit and give back to their community.

Following a summer that sadly saw too many preventable drownings on our beaches and waterways, the Budget invests $9.1 million to help keep Victorians safe around water through lifeguard services, helicopter and drone surveillance, rescue watercraft, and public information and awareness campaigns.

We know Victorians have been hit hard by devastating floods, storms, and fires over the past year – which for many communities adds to the toll of successive years of disasters. Recovery takes time, and the Labor Government will be with those affected every step of the way.

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