Justice Ministers
Dear Ministers
Annual Report 2011-12
In accordance with the Financial Management Act 1994, I have pleasure in submitting the Department of Justice Annual Report for the year ended 30 June 2012, for you to present to the Houses of Parliament.
Yours sincerely
Dr Claire Noone Acting Secretary
The Hon Robert Clark MP
Attorney-General
The Hon Peter Ryan MP
Minister for Police and Emergency Services
Minister for Bushfire Response
The Hon Andrew McIntosh MP
Minister for Corrections
Minister for Crime Prevention
Minister responsible for the establishment of an anti-corruption commission
The Hon Dr Denis Napthine MP
Minister for Racing
The Hon Michael O’Brien MP
Minister for Gaming
Minister for Consumer Affairs
Secretary’s foreword
Once again, the Department of Justice (DOJ) had a productive year of delivering on our commitments with an overarching vision for a safe, just, innovative and thriving Victoria.
This year’s annual report focuses on the diversity of the work that our staff do, and the department’s leading role in the successful operation of the state’s justice system.
Community safety has been a key area of achievement this year. The deployment of the first Protective Services Officers on the rail network, establishment of Regional Crime Prevention Reference Groups, appointment of the Road Safety Camera Commissioner and the introduction of stronger weapons laws are just some examples of how the department has led efforts to protect the public and strengthen partnerships across government and with the community.
The implementation of the new Community Correction Order (CCO) in January 2012 was an important milestone. In the first six months of operation there were 4,189 CCOs registered in Victoria. It is the most significant reform to community-based sentencing in 20 years. This is an element of an ambitious sentencing reform agenda which also includes work on statutory minimum and baseline sentences.
The creation of the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation, the resolution of more than 2,000 disputes through appropriate dispute resolution (resulting in significant savings in court time), and the opening of three new Justice Service Centres are just some examples of how the department continues to focus on the delivery of efficient, effective services to Victorians.
In addition, the department continues to administer around 200 Acts of Parliament. For the 2011-12 financial year, 38 DOJ portfolio Bills were passed out of a total of 92 Bills across government. This represents 41.3 per cent of all government Bills passed.
In looking back on the year, I want to acknowledge the contribution of Penny Armytage, whose last day as Secretary was 20 July 2012. Penny was Secretary for nine and a half years. The achievements highlighted throughout this report – and many more before it – are a testament to Penny’s considerable abilities as a public servant, and her years of hard work on behalf of the people of Victoria.
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank staff and volunteers across the portfolio for their continued professionalism and dedication to Victoria’s justice system, and the people it serves.
Dr Claire Noone
Acting Secretary
About us
Who we are
The Department of Justice (DOJ) leads the delivery of justice services in Victoria.
The department’s overarching vision is for a safe, just, innovative and thriving Victoria.
What we do
The department provides justice-related services to the community and leads the smooth operation of the justice system in Victoria. This is done through the oversight of nine portfolios:
• Attorney-General
• Police and Emergency Services
• Bushfire Response
• Corrections
• Crime Prevention
• Establishment of an anti-corruption commission
• Gaming
• Consumer Affairs
• Racing.
The department enjoys productive partnerships with more than 60 statutory entities as well as the support of more than 90,000 volunteers.
The department’s extensive service delivery responsibilities range from managing the Victorian prison system to giving consumer information and enforcing court warrants. DOJ also manages the development of a range of laws, develops and implements policy and regulation in areas across the portfolio (such as in gaming, racing, and bushfire response) and aims to ensure that all elements of the justice system – such as police, the courts, and corrections – are working efficiently and effectively.
Our focus
• safer communities
• a responsive, efficient justice system
• well-equipped, engaged emergency services
• responsible, balanced regulation
• excellence in service delivery.
Organisational chart as at 30 June 2012
Year in review – highlights
Sentencing reform
• Commencement of new Community Correction Order
• Abolition of home detention
• Progress on reforms to introduce gross violence offences and baseline sentences
Community safety
• Deployment of Protective Services Officers across the rail network
• Improved management of high-risk sex offenders
• Initiation of reform of Police Regulation Act
• Stronger weapons laws
Emergency management
• Continued oversight of implementation of Bushfires Royal Commission recommendations
• Major reform of state’s emergency management arrangements
Efficient, effective services
• Establishment of new Road Safety Camera Commissioner
• Establishment of integrated Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation
• Completion of the Gambling Licences Review
• Consumer Affairs Victoria increased its focus on small business and web-based communication campaigns.
Year in review – key activities
Community safetyHours of unpaid work done by offenders / 713,157
Working With Children Check cards issued / 181,014
Emergency Alert messages sent / 33,000
Services for Victorians
Clients assisted at Justice Service Centres / 24,500 per month
Gambler’s Help Line calls received / 13,364
Calls to Victims of Crime Helpline / 10,088
Number of victims assisted by the Victims Assistance and Counselling Program / 4,893
Kilometres travelled by Mobile Justice Service Centres (Justice buses) / 28,000
Births, Deaths and Marriages: number of certificates issued / 423,832
Policy and regulatory activities
Number of Acts administered – Justice portfolio / 200
Number of government Bills passed by Parliament / 38 DOJ (out of 92 Bills)
Unsafe products seized / 11,164
Visits to departmental website / 1,196,836
Number of calls taken on Consumer Affairs Victoria (CAV) small business hotline / 3,634
CAV inspections and investigations / 6,431
CAV compliance assistance visits / 2,926
Total calls answered by CAV / 498,563
1 Keeping the public safe and fighting crime
Achievements:
• new Community Correction Order
• strengthening regulation for sex offenders
• the first Protective Services Officers appear on Melbourne’s train stations
• Road Safety Camera Commissioner Gordon Lewis begins work
• Regional Crime Prevention Reference Groups are established to improve community safety
• stronger weapons laws are introduced
• facilitating the establishment of Victoria’s first Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission.
Did You Know?
Corrections Victoria delivers the Graffiti Removal Program. Teams of supervised offenders clean up graffiti on state, local government and community assets using purpose-built trailers.
For the 2011-12 financial year, supervision orders were made under the Serious Sex Offender (Detention and Supervision) Act 2009 in relation to 53 offenders – 25 of those offenders were new to the scheme, and 28 were offenders already subject to supervision whose orders were reviewed or renewed.
The department has overseen a significant commitment to law and order and community safety – especially at the grassroots level.
This includes sentencing reform, stronger weapons laws, targeting family violence and grants to community safety projects. New Regional Crime Prevention Reference Groups have been established and a Road Safety Camera Commissioner appointed to enhance safety on Victoria’s roads.
The first Protective Services Officers (PSOs) also stepped onto platforms at Melbourne train stations in February, a powerful symbol of the commitment to public safety and fighting crime.
Sentencing reforms
Significant progress has been made on the implementation of sentencing reforms in Victoria.
A highlight is the introduction of the new Community Correction Order (CCO) – the Sentencing Amendment (Community Correction Reform) Act 2011 – the most significant reform to community-based sentencing in 20 years.
The new order – available to all courts since 16 January 2012 – replaces the previous range of community-based sentences. It provides courts with greater powers and broad discretion to impose conditions that reflect the particular circumstances of the case and the offender.
The first CCO was imposed on the morning of 16 January 2012 at the Broadmeadows Magistrates’ Court, and as at 30 June 2012, there have been 4,189 CCOs registered in Victoria.
The conditions most often recommended and imposed on the CCO have been supervision, followed by unpaid community work. Treatment conditions have also been widely used, with an emphasis on alcohol, drug and mental health treatment as well as programs to reduce reoffending. In terms of more restrictive conditions, the most common have been alcohol exclusion, non-association and place exclusion conditions.
Corrections Victoria is managing offenders on CCOs, using a strengthened service delivery and case management model to support the reforms. The department was provided with $72.46 million over four years, with $23.17 million per annum ongoing, to enhance its service capacity.
Sentencing reform has required close cooperation between the department, the judiciary, court registries and Victoria Police. Community views have also been taken into account, most notably through the MyViews Sentencing Survey, the results of which were issued in December 2011. The department received 18,562 responses to this consultation. The results will help shape decisions on future sentencing reforms.
Making the rail network safer
In a bid to combat antisocial behaviour on the transport system, especially at night, 2012 saw the first PSOs deployed across the rail network. As of 30 June 2012, a pool of 95 PSOs is available for deployment. The first 18 began work at CBD train stations in February as part of a broader commitment to recruit 940 officers.
The department has played a key coordination role in making this happen. The department chaired the inter-departmental committee (which includes Victoria Police and the Department of Transport) to align the deployment of PSOs with infrastructure upgrades at train stations.
The PSOs’ powers are laid out in the Justice Legislation Amendment (Protective Services Officers) Act 2011, which passed into law in September 2011. This legislation, which the department developed, ensures PSOs have adequate powers to detect, prevent and prosecute crimes of violence and antisocial behaviour on the rail network.
As part of their work PSOs may exercise powers including:
• arrest a person who commits an assault or robbery or other serious offence
• search a person reasonably believed to possess a prohibited weapon
• search for and seize graffiti implements
• seize liquor from underage persons
• assist a person experiencing a mental health episode
• arrest a person who is drunk or disorderly
• prevent a person under the influence of drugs or alcohol from driving a vehicle from a rail carpark.
Development of new sentences for violence offencesDuring 2011-12 the department has worked to develop statutory minimum sentences for the offences of intentionally or recklessly causing serious injury when committed with gross violence. A statutory minimum sentence of four years imprisonment will apply to adult offenders. Juvenile offenders aged 15 and 17 will receive a sentence of two years in youth detention.
The government accepted the Sentencing Advisory Council’s recommendation that two new indictable offences should be introduced with a higher injury threshold. The department is now focusing on developing legislation to introduce statutory minimum sentencesfor gross violence offences, and to abolish all suspended sentences in the higher courts.
The government has also responded to a Sentencing Advisory Council report on the introduction of baseline sentences for serious and significant offences as defined in the Sentencing Act 1991. Baseline sentences will operate as a starting point for sentencing judges in determining the minimum non-parole period. Judges may then apply aggravating or mitigating factors to adjust sentences. Courts will retain the flexibility to tailor sentences to individual cases.
The government agreed with the Sentencing Advisory Council’s recommendations that: the reform should not apply to juvenile offenders; additional offences should be included in the scheme; offences do not need to be redefined; and there should be one baseline level for each offence.
The department is also looking to increase sentences for offenders who assault workers including police, ambulance officers, fire-fighters, Protective Services Officers, Victorian State Emergency Service workers or lifesavers, as well as nurses, doctors or other staff in hospital emergency departments.
Community Crime Prevention
One of the key means of improving community confidence is to tackle crime at the coalface – to help people feel confident and safer in their communities.
Under this approach, the department’s new Community Crime Prevention Unit supports the government’s crime prevention agenda including the Community Crime Prevention Program.
It also works in partnership with communities – and across government – to foster a safer Victoria.
The department, in conjunction with local partners, has helped to establish 12 Regional Crime Prevention Reference Groups across Victoria, and overseen the allocation of more than $5.7 million in community crime prevention grants.
These grants have provided:
• $2.4 million in funds to 24 projects in 22 local councils under the Public Safety Infrastructure Fund. Councils can receive grants of up to $250,000 to help develop public safety and security infrastructure such as lighting or CCTV cameras.
• $1 million in funds to 155 local projects under the Community Safety Fund, which provides grants of up to $10,000 to councils, community, sporting and business groups to undertake practical community safety projects
• $300,000 in funds for 18 graffiti prevention and removal projects across 17 local government areas
• graffiti removal trailers, education programs in schools and murals at graffiti hotspots.
Funding of $7.2 million has been made available in single grants of up to $600,000 to projects as part of the Reducing Violence Against Women and Children grants, which fund violence prevention and early intervention partnerships across community service organisations and local government areas. As part of the $7.2 million, there is dedicated funding of $2.4 million to projects developed by Koori communities under the Reducing Violence Against Women and Children grants.
The 12 Regional Crime Prevention Reference Groups, which are convened by the department’s regional directors, are a partnership forum between government departments, local government, police and community agencies.
The groups advise government on local priorities and solutions, and have a key role in determining the recipients of the Reducing Violence Against Women and Children grants.
Family violence
Family violence – and raising public awareness of the problem – has been a focus of the department in recent years.These efforts have contributed to an increase in reports of family violence. As a result the volume of family violence intervention order applications finalised in Victoria has increased 41.2 per cent since 2007-08 and grew 11.2 per cent over the last 12 months.
The number of personal safety intervention order applications has grown 40 per cent over the same period, increasing nine per cent over the last 12 months. Collectively, the volume of intervention order applications finalised in Victoria has increased 40.9 per cent over the last five years.
All Magistrates’ Courts in Victoria hear family violence matters. Two Family Violence Court divisions (Heidelberg and Ballarat) provide a more intensive service to victims of family violence – including support workers, magistrates with specialist experience in family violence matters and safe waiting areas. There are also three specialist family violence services operating at Sunshine, Melbourne and Frankston Magistrates’ Courts.
The department has been working with the courts and Victoria Police to plan for better management of this caseload.
Sexual assault reform strategy
This year the department has moved to further improve the criminal justice system’s response to sexual assault. Work has begun on planning the next steps in the sexual assault reform strategy, which the department implemented in 2006, and which was independently evaluated from 2008-2010.
The evaluation report – released in April 2011 – concluded that significant progress has been made. The government has now given direction to reconvene the committee that oversaw the reform strategy, in order to plan the next steps.
A number of initiatives operate as part of this strategy, including:
• the establishment of Victoria Police Sexual Offence and Child Abuse investigation teams and multidisciplinary centres (MDCs) in Frankston and Mildura (and funding for the establishment of a MDC at Geelong). Twenty million dollars of funding over 2012-13 to 2015-16 has been allocated for these centres.
• the Child Witness Service
• specialist sexual offences lists in the Magistrates’ Court and the County Court
•specialist Sexual Offences Units within the Office of Public Prosecutions, based at Melbourne and Geelong
• treatment programs for young people displaying sexually inappropriate behaviour
• expanded treatment and post-release programs for serious sex offenders
• a forensic nursing network
• enhanced counselling for victims of sexual assault and expanded crisis care responses
• additional training for judges and the legal profession on issues surrounding sexual assault
• expanding the availability of forensic medical examinations to adult victims of sexual assault who do not initially choose to report to Victoria Police.
Managing sex offenders
Strengthening sex offender management is a key priority for the department.
In 2011 the Victorian Ombudsman released his report into the management of registered sex offenders, which examined Victoria Police’s management of the Sex Offender Registry and the notification to the Department of Human Services (DHS) concerning registered offenders’ contact with children.
In response to the report, Corrections Victoria has worked in close collaboration with Victoria Police and DHS to refine and expand the information exchange relating to registered sex offenders. The new information exchange arrangements will: