Lobby group’s plea for 12-month judiciary contracts
MAGISTRATES and judges would be put on 12-month contracts under a call from a community safety lobby group.
Protect Victoria, which held a gathering in Geelong yesterday, said the move was needed after recent court decisions in Melbourne that did not meet community expectations.
Group founder Hayden Bradford called for judges and magistrates to be put on contracts or voted in by the public.
He said the move would prevent a “jobs for life” mentality within the judiciary and keep them accountable.
Mr Bradford said the justice system needed to be geared towards justice for victims of crime more so than the rehabilitation of offenders.
“Community Corrections Orders are rubbish, they don’t work,” he said. “One main reason we are seeing crime occurring ... is because bail laws have been changed.
“When people start using weapons and invading homes in the middle of the night there shouldn’t be time for rehabilitation (in place of a proper punishment).”
Moolap resident Helen, who attended Protect Victoria’s Geelong gathering, said she was confronted by a drugaffected man holding a sledgehammer yesterday morning.
“The courts and judges are hoping to rehabilitate people like this. People used to be (properly) punished for doing something wrong,” she said.
Bellarine police Sergeant Michael Knight said a 19-yearold Leopold man was charged with resisting police and theft after he was found at the Moolap caravan park about 11.40am yesterday. The teen- ABOUT 300 people turned up at Johnstone Park yesterday to kickstart National Reconciliation Week in Geelong.
This year’s event will focus of educating the public about Aboriginal history under the ‘Don’t keep history a mystery’ slogan.
Yesterday’s event organised by Aboriginal elders and the Geelong One Fire Reconciliation Group hosted a dance performance from the Dhungala choral led by Aboriginal opera singer Deborah Cheetham.
Members of the public also had their faces painted using an indigenous claybased paint, while Aboriginal elders held a smoke ceremony to welcome those who attended the event.
Geelong One Fire president Vicky Grosser said the Reconciliation in the Park event in its ninth year was about providing a platform for the public to learn.
“A lot of Aboriginal people were very violently moved off their land so we need to work together respectfully in the future,” Ms Grosser said.
She hoped National Reconciliation Week will help advance the Victorian Treaty, which aims to improve the lives of Aboriginal Victorians, and the lives of future generations. The Bill is the first piece of treaty legislation in Australia which has been prepared with input from Aboriginal community members.
The djillong.net.au website has been created to provide information to the public about the Geelong region’s Aboriginal history. ager has been bailed to appear in Geelong Magistrates’ Court at a later date.
Protest Victoria will hand a petition, which currently has more than 1630 signatures, to the Victorian Parliament in August calling on the government to abolish bail and early parole for those convicted of violent home invasions, carjackings, robberies and muggings.
To sign the petition, visit www. parliament. vic. gov. au/ council/ petitions/ electronicpetitions