It does not matter how many meaningless ‘most liveable city’ awards are bestowed on Melbourne, the city has a serious youth crime problem which has left its residents terrified of being attacked in their own homes.

Kids who should be in school are fighting each other with machetes in shopping centres. They are breaking into homes in the dead of night and taking car keys so they can tear through suburban streets, endangering innocent families. These kids are arrested, charged, and released on bail over and over and over and over again.

Excuses for their behaviour have been made for far too long.

With idiotically soft bail laws and a justice system that’s more concerned with the welfare of the criminal instead of the victim, offenders in their teens have rap sheets longer than most bikie gangs.

People are sick to death of human rights organisations and politicians playing the ‘think of the children’ line. The public want violent criminals off the streets and in jail where they cannot hurt anyone else. The emotional welfare of the offenders is of little interest.

Not only are Victorians fed up, their anger over the influx of youth violence is in danger of becoming an election tipping point.

The Victorian Labor Party has been looking nervously at Queensland, where David Crisafulli took the Liberal Party to election victory almost entirely on the ‘tough on youth crime’ campaign line.

This new policy is a copy-paste from Queensland.

Since then, Premier Jacinta Allan has saturated social media. The government has shifted their focus from bail laws to direct threats that young offenders will be serving adult time for adult crimes and that the ringleaders of the gangs who employ children will face life sentences.

To that end, the Premier released a long media statement this morning:

Nothing matters more to me than the safety of Victorians.

Safety in their home, at the shops, on our streets.

I’ve met with the victims of crime. Heard how their lives have been shattered – how the fear still follows them.

Every story different. Every story the same: too many victims. Not enough consequences.

Right now, young people are committing violent, brazen crimes without any thought for who they hurt.

So, we’re drawing a line. A firm one.

We’ve already toughened bail laws, banned machetes, and delivered more police on the beat.

But there’s more to do – especially when Victorians don’t feel safe.

Adult Time for Violent Crime – so children who commit violent crimes face adult sentences in adult courts, meaning jail is more likely, and sentences are longer.

Life sentences for youth gang recruiters – because dragging a child into a life of violence is child abuse.

And new laws to crack down on crimes against workers. Because no Victorian worker should ever have to fear for their safety at work.

If you assault or threaten a worker in a retail store, hospitality venue, shopping centre, on public transport, in taxis or rideshare or someone who’s delivering goods – you could face up to five years jail.

This week, we’re focused on consequences. Reinforcing boundaries. Making it absolutely clear: if you choose violence, there are serious penalties.

These are the immediate steps to tackle violent crime and keep Victorians safe.

But we also know this: long-term change comes from stopping crime before it starts.

Going all-in at the community level – reaching kids early, keeping them on track, pulling them back before they’re lost to a life of violence.

That’s what prevention is all about – and we’ll never stop doing that work. There’s more to come.

As people say, Victorians will believe it when they see it.

Already, various groups and politicians have come out claiming, bizarrely, racism! over accusations the policy will impact black, brown, and migrant children. Their words, not mine.

The only people targeted by these laws are the children committing offences.

Why should a person’s identity afford them any sort of soft touch from the law?

Australia cannot allow identity politics to damage the integrity of the justice system any more than it already has.

Thankfully, in a rare moment of sanity, the Labor government appears to be ignoring these objections.

If Jacinta Allan manages to pull this off, the Liberal Party are going to be hard pressed to find something to campaign on.

Mind you, Victorians are not going to forget about the machete surrender bin farce anytime soon.

We put the question to our Facebook followers, and the vast majority would like to see the Victorian Labor Party cough up the cost straight from their salaries.

Why?

Because Victoria is dead-broke, crippled by interest repayments, and the machete bins were an obvious knee-jerk, ill-conceived reaction to bad headlines.