Justice Policy

Principles

1. The rule of law, the protection of human rights and access to justice for all people are fundamental to a democratic society.
2. The separation of powers between the judiciary, executive and legislature is crucial to the maintenance of freedom, justice and democracy.
3. All Australians have a right to a safe and peaceful existence, free from crime and fear of violence.
4. Equality before the law can only be achieved when there is recognition of the way in which cultural, social, gender and economic structures and practices influence decision-making processes and affect people's choices and opportunities.
5. Access to justice requires policies and resources that overcome social, economic and cultural inequalities to ensure equality before the law.
6. Open, impartial and independent courts and proper legal representation are fundamental to the right to a fair hearing.
7. Laws must address the particular cultural and social needs of First Nations peoples.
8. Irrelevant criminal records should not be used to discriminate against individuals.
9. Behaviours labelled as crime are often rooted in inequality, poverty, and social exclusion; addressing these root causes, rather than relying on punitive systems, is central to reducing harm.
10. Responses to harm and crime should centre restoration, accountability, and reintegration, led by communities rather than a reliance on punitive criminal justice systems.
11. Victims of crime should receive the necessary support required to facilitate recovery.
12. Investing in preventing crime is more likely to result in a fairer and safer society than law and order campaigns.
13. Reducing access to guns in the community is essential to reducing crime.
14. Police should be focused on maintaining a safe, peaceful and just society, be effectively trained, and have strong community links.
15. Police should have adequate powers to protect the community, while being accountable for the use of those powers.
16. Police should not be further militarised, and existing militarisation should be reversed.
17. Heavy police presence can escalate the risk of violence and disproportionately impact marginalised communities, particularly in the context of protests and industrial action.
18. Police should not investigate police.
19. Improving access to mental health and disability supports, as well as timely diagnosis, is essential to preventing the unnecessary criminalisation of people with mental illnesses and disabilities and their over-representation in prisons.
20. Prison should be a last resort in the management of offenders.
21. All prisoners should be protected from torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Aims

Access to justice

1. To secure funds for community legal centres and legal aid in both criminal and civil jurisdictions to ensure access to justice for all Victorians.
2. To work with the legal profession to address the shortage of lawyers in regional areas.
3. Information about legal rights, responsibilities and processes to be made widely available online and through community legal education.
4. Reform the fines and infringements system to ensure penalties are proportionate to a person's capacity to pay.
5. Improved and ongoing training for all personnel in the justice system responding to domestic violence, rape and other gender-related crimes.
6. The introduction of justice impact assessments for new regulatory proposals.

Courts and tribunals

7. Courts and tribunals that are well resourced.
8. Fair and appropriate court and tribunal fees.
9. Initiatives to reduce delays in metropolitan and regional courts.
10. Greater investment in dispute resolution and mediation services across Victoria.
11. To ensure that judges, magistrates and tribunal members have security of tenure to protect their independence.
12. The judicial selection process that encourages the broadest range of candidates, especially from communities underrepresented within the legal profession.
13. Judicial officers, lawyers, and justice system workers to receive appropriate and ongoing training in disability, gender and queer sensitivity, and cultural awareness.
14. To maintain and expand specialist courts such as the Koori Court, the Drug Court, the Family Violence Division of the Magistrates' Court, and Neighbourhood Justice Centres.
15. Drug courts in all regions of Victoria, along with adequate funding for diversion programs as sentencing alternatives for people convicted of possessing small quantities of drugs for personal use or committing non-violent offences to support a drug addiction.
16. Greater range of specialist services available at court to victims of family violence so as to provide an integrated response at their first point of contact with the justice system.
17. To improve access to support and financial assistance for victims of crime, including through more timely, accessible and trauma-informed processes.
18. To expand the definition of self-defence in cases of murder in domestic situations.

Public safety

19. Gun law reform, with reduced access to firearms, including prohibition of the possession and use of semi-automatic guns in the community.
20. Zero blood alcohol concentration requirements and prohibitions on drug impairment for any person in control of a firearm.
21. A prohibition on children under the age of 18 carrying or using firearms on public land.
22. Effective regulation of the liquor and nightclub industries, including resourcing for the enforcement of liquor licensing and planning laws.
23. Special licence conditions for liquor licences to be based on factors such as a history of violence, levels of alcohol consumption, late-night operations and patron numbers, rather than the presence of live or amplified music.
24. Regulate and limit the use of surveillance technologies, including facial recognition and data tracking, to protect privacy and civil liberties.
25. CCTV installed only where an evidence-based study demonstrates that crime will be reduced and other crime mitigation measures alone are not an effective option.
26. The deployment of public transport safety personnel according to community safety needs, together with sufficient transport staff to support the safe operation and effective management of the public transport network.
27. The full decriminalisation of sex work along with effective and accessible anti-discrimination protections for sex workers.

Police

28. Training and support to assist police officers and protective services officers to deal safely with difficult situations, including those involving armed people, mental illness, and alcohol or other drug impairment.
29. Training for all police officers to engage respectfully and effectively with complaints of family violence, sexual offences and child abuse.
30. To provide counselling and support services for all police officers, protective services officers and their families who have suffered trauma or injury in the course of their duties.
31. To prohibit racial profiling, and the arbitrary use of racial descriptors by police or other government agencies.
32. Explore alternatives to armed police for low-risk community safety, welfare and engagement functions, including unarmed community support officers.
33. Ensure that police use of force is strictly limited to circumstances where it is necessary, proportionate and a last resort.
34. Implement stronger restrictions on when law enforcement can carry firearms and tasers, including:
    1. limiting carriage (including concealed carry) to officers with additional specialised training;
    2. restricting use to situations involving a serious and imminent threat of violence to a person;
    3. requiring clear justification based on the location and the officer's expected duties; and
    4. mandating that less-lethal and non-force options are prioritised wherever practical.
35. Limit police involvement in protests and industrial action, prioritising community-based safety approaches and independent oversight of any police presence.
36. Review public indecency offences and how they are enforced with a view to addressing discrimination against marginalised groups.
37. Protection from the confiscation of personal belongings, particularly for people experiencing homelessness, except where strictly necessary for safety or evidentiary purposes.

Sentencing and rehabilitation

38. To provide support for the establishment of community programs managed at local level to increase the community engagement of those at risk of committing crime.
39. A comprehensive, multi-disciplinary and evidence-based approach to reducing crime by addressing the underlying causes of crime and recidivism.
40. Justice reinvestment in targeted communities to create a fairer and more inclusive society and reduce crime, rather than politically motivated law and order campaigns that exploit and fuel public anxieties.
41. Resources to be directed toward restorative and community-based responses, rather than expanding punitive criminal justice systems.
42. Expansion of diversionary programs for young offenders.
43. Reforms to the bail system that:
    1. ensure bail decisions are based on risk and individual circumstances, rather than solely on the category of alleged offence;
    2. prevent people from being remanded for offences unlikely to result in a sentence of imprisonment;
    3. provide access to services to support people to comply with bail conditions and remain in the community; and
    4. remove monetary bail conditions that unfairly disadvantage low-income people.
44. To uphold judicial discretion in sentencing and repeal mandatory sentencing legislation.
45. The restoration of a broader range of intermediate sentencing options, including suspended sentences and home detention.
46. Raise the age of criminal responsibility to at least 14 years.
47. A strengthened spent convictions scheme, including reducing the waiting period before eligible criminal records no longer need to be disclosed to two years for people under the age of 25.
48. Reduce the over-incarceration of groups disproportionately impacted by the criminal justice system through investment in community-led, culturally appropriate and therapeutic justice responses, including:
    1. First Nations peoples;
    2. people with disabilities, including intellectual disabilities and acquired brain injuries;
    3. people experiencing mental illness;
    4. people experiencing homelessness; and
    5. children and young people leaving care systems.
49. The abolition of detention without charge powers, including those used in counter-terrorism laws.
50. Clarifying and extending the powers of IBAC and the Ombudsman to allow them to effectively investigate corruption, police misconduct and misconduct in public office.
51. Establishment of an independent body to investigate deaths and serious injuries at the hands of police and protective services officers.

Corrections and prisons

52. Greater funding for services and staffing to support people serving community correction orders.
53. Quality rehabilitation, education and training programs for all people in detention to support rehabilitation and reduce recidivism.
54. Ensure people in prison are provided with healthcare, including:
    1. access to preventative and primary care, timely diagnosis and appropriate treatment;
    2. continuity of care between custody and the community;
    3. disability-inclusive healthcare;
    4. culturally safe healthcare for First Nations people; and
    5. care which takes into account gender, addiction and trauma.
55. Ensure disabled people in custody are supported to access and retain disability and income supports where appropriate, including the NDIS and Disability Support Pension, during incarceration and on release.
56. Increased funding for programs that support people with drug dependence on their release from prison, to assist their wellbeing and reintegration into the community.
57. Investment in the parole system, in particular transitional community housing, so prisoners are released from prison into a supportive and constructive environment.
58. To provide a supportive and appropriate environment for parents in prison with their children.
59. Provision for all prisoners eligible to be sentenced to a youth facility also to be held on remand at a youth facility.
60. A ban on the transfer of child prisoners into adult prisons.
61. Ensure trans, gender diverse and intersex people in prison are housed in facilities that align with their gender identity and individual preference, subject to case-by-case assessments that prioritise dignity, safety and agency.
62. Reverting all privatised prisons to public ownership and control.
63. Establishment of an independent statutory body to oversee prisons.

Policy principles and aims as adopted by members on 27 July 2026.

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