Daniel Andrews’ Giveaways to Criminals
If you thought Daniel Andrews’ soft law and order approach in Victoria couldn’t get any worse, his latest announcement will have you facepalming. Not deterred by Victoria’s rising crime rate, the Bourke Street car attacker who was out on bail, constant riots in Victoria’s youth detention centres, Andrews still believes if that we are nicer to criminals they will suddenly see the error of their ways. He is still more interested in virtue signalling on social justice issues. Actually, there is one form of crime Daniel Andrews takes a hard-line on. Thought criminals who question the current cultural enrichment of the state with his government’s anti-racism taskforce.
Yesterday Daniel Andrews announced the opening of a new drug court that has jurisdiction in metropolitan Melbourne. It will process low level drug offenders from ice to cannabis users and put them on a rehabilitation program which would see them drug tested three times a week rather than send them to jail. There has already been a drug court operating in Dandenong for the past 15 years.
Now there is merit in dealing with non-violent drug offenders in a different manner than those who commit serious violent crimes, who it should be noted will not be eligible for the program. But there is one aspect of the program that has people stunned, that those offenders on the rehabilitation program will be rewarded for good behaviour, with items such as footy tickets and supermarket vouchers. Excuse me? If you are found to have broken the law you will be rewarded for not breaking it again? Being grateful for a second chance, having the opportunity to get off drugs and not being sent to jail should be reward enough.
The ludicrous aspect of this scheme opens up a whole new Pandora’s box that if these criminals are rewarded for not breaking the law why shouldn’t everyone else have the same reward too? Most of us have never broken the law, where’s our reward? Those who have already broken the law should be the least deserving of giveaways from our government. If you need to bribe people not to break the law, then doesn’t that indicate that person does not have much respect for the law in the first place?
At the announcement, Magistrate Tony Parsons said of the offenders who will be part of this program “These are people who might have dropped out of school and been called losers all their lives’’. There are plenty of people who have had a difficult life and don’t resort to getting caught up breaking the law, some often achieve great things. This statement is yet again another example of blaming society at large for the fact that we have criminals rather than focusing on protecting society, punishing law breakers and people taking responsibility for their actions.
The Dandenong drug court has seen only 17% of offenders graduate, not really a high success rate. At a time when both property and violent crimes are on the rise in Victoria this announcement doesn’t really send a message to criminals that the government is getting tough and does nothing to ensure the public that the government cares about ensuring their safety. Anyone who has been a victim of a drug fueled violent crime would be dismayed at this announcement.
It makes you wonder how much further out of touch can Daniel Andrews’ government get? Time to stop listening to the bleeding hearts in the human rights industry and start making our streets safe again. This leftist attitude of sympathizing with the criminals needs to stop.
