Victoria's upcoming state budget will include funding for hundreds of new prison beds. The state government says it will spend more than $700 million expanding the Victorian justice system and hire 700 new corrections staff.
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00:00This is all prompted by the state's new bail laws and the state government says it expects a real spike in demand for prison beds after its overhaul of the bail laws, making it much tougher for alleged offenders to be released into the community.
00:17Now this is going to pay for an additional 1,000 adult prison beds as well as an extra 88 youth justice beds at its facilities in Cherry Creek near Geelong and also in Parkville in Melbourne's inner north.
00:32It will also pay for an additional 700 corrections staff and this follows the passing in Parliament of those bail laws back in March, making community safety the overriding consideration for judges and magistrates.
00:48And it follows after real concern among the public about rising crime rates as well as the number of repeat offenders, particularly youth offenders, that were being released back into the community.
01:02So this is just one glimpse of the much bigger funding picture that is set to be detailed by the state government when it hands down its budget next Tuesday.