Corporate Plan 2022-26

• Open the new fit-for-purpose youth justice facility at Cherry Creek to support the rehabilitation of children and young people in custody and improve community safety
• Implement the Countering Violent Extremism Multi Agency Panel to support early intervention for individuals at-risk of, or radicalising towards, violent extremism
• Complete the Crowded Places Safety Program to protect the community and support appropriate policies and processes to embed design and security protocols in relevant organisations
• Continue the Northern Community Support Group by delivering tailored initiatives focused on community empowerment, resilience and social participation
• Finalise implementation of the integrated, coordinated and comprehensive framework to support emergency management planning at state, regional and municipal levels
• Lead emergency management sector-wide learning and development reform and deliver the five-year strategic Learning and Reform Action Plan
• Implement the Australian Fire Danger Ratings System across the emergency management sector

• Optimise the distribution of people and programs across the prison system to increase participation in programs that reduce reoffending
• Enhance trauma-informed service provision for women in prison through staff training, operational practice and use of new infrastructure
• Establish an Aboriginal Healing Unit to deliver culturally responsive services, programs and support for Aboriginal women in prison
• Prepare to operationalise the Western Plains Correctional Centre
• Implement changes to health and alcohol and other drug services in Victorian public prisons, following the Health Services Review and Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health Services
• Improve oversight of high-risk offenders on Community Corrections Orders
• Better support South Sudanese Australian children and young people in, or at risk of involvement in, the justice system
• Deliver the Crime Prevention Strategy and supporting initiatives
• Establish Emergency Recovery Victoria as a new and comprehensive recovery entity, responsible for coordinating recovery from all emergencies in Victoria and finalise the emergency relief model
• Advise on sustainable implementation options for the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture
• Lead the department’s input into the WoVG submission to the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability and the WoVG submission to the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide
• Progress gambling reform with legislative amendments and reform
• Support gambling harm prevention initiatives for segments of the Victorian community considered at-risk
• Develop reforms to better prevent and respond to sexual harassment in the workplace

• Implement justice system actions under the Second Family Violence Rolling Action Plan 2020–2023, including Perpetrator Accountability and Legal Assistance
• Develop a new offence of non-fatal strangulation
• Coordinate and lead policy reform across the justice system in response to the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System
• Implement recommendations of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse
• Implement initiatives contained in the Minister’s Victim Support Update, including the Victims Legal Service, a Victim Centred Restorative Justice Program, developing a Victorian Aboriginal Victims of Crime Strategy, and implementing system enablers such as a Victim Services Outcomes Framework
• Develop a WoVG strategy and action plan to prevent, and improve responses to, sexual harm, violence and abuse
• Continue to deliver the Restorative Engagement and Redress Scheme for Victoria Police employees who have experienced workplace sex discrimination or sexual harassment
• Deliver Digitally Recorded Evidence in Chief by body worn cameras to reduce trauma for victim survivors and improve resolution of family violence matters

• Contribute to the development and delivery of initiatives under the Victorian Road Safety Strategy and associated action plans
• Develop a six-year Emergency Management Strategic Roadmap and the Sector Outcomes Framework to guide long-term reforms for the emergency management sector
• Continue to strengthen, embed and operationalise Fire Services Reform through the delivery of the Year Two to Year Five Fire Services Reform Implementation Plan
• Deliver recommendations for Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority reform from the Ashton Review, Financial Sustainability Review and Funding Model Review
• Create the Justice Partnership Committee as the primary mechanism to coordinate engagement with justice stakeholders
• Develop an overarching strategy for Victoria’s negotiating position on key reforms across the justice portfolios
• Work with key stakeholders to develop gambling harm reduction policy frameworks
• Deliver outstanding commitments from past Community Safety Statements, including reforms to support policing of major crimes
• Deliver the Victoria Police Death and Disability Benefits project to provide operational Victoria Police members aged 55–60 with a prospective benefit in the event of their death or total and permanent disability

• Implement the Victim Support Workforce Capability Framework to guide recruitment, training and development, and support an uplift of workforce capability across victim services using contemporary and evolving understanding of victimisation and trauma
• Build workforce capability in understanding and responding to family violence, including through alignment to the Multi-Agency Risk Assessment and Management Framework
• Transform the State Control Centre’s dedicated 24-hour, seven days a week workforce capability into ongoing capability for the emergency management sector

• Continue to develop and implement reforms to reduce demand across the justice system
• Measure and report on WoVG efforts to reduce people’s involvement with the criminal justice system, including updated corrections demand forecasts
• Conduct a strategic review of the bail justice model
• Trial and evaluate options for serving Family Violence Intervention order applications and for taking digitally recorded statements for victim survivors at family violence incidents
• Embed and strengthen best practice, evidence-based, end-to-end risk and case management across the custodial and community corrections systems
• Investigate and deliver the Mobile Speed Enforcement Optimisation Plan project to improve the road safety impact of camera operations, create efficiencies, and strengthen the market for mobile camera operations

• Deliver artificial intelligence (AI) enabled road safety cameras to detect distracted driving and seatbelt wearing offences
• Deliver 35 new fixed intersection and two point-to-point road safety camera systems
• Deliver further technology to the current fines IT system, complementing existing technology to ensure increased revenue collection, assistance for vulnerable Victorians and more debtor-centric digital services
• Develop an ICT strategic roadmap for the emergency management sector to drive efficiencies, enhance capability, and support collaboration and integration between organisations

• Maintain and update the 10-year justice sector wide asset and infrastructure plan
• Review the Victorian courts’ operations including audio visual link scheduling tools
• Progress legislative and operational changes to the Victorian fines system

• Develop committals reforms based on the Victorian Law Reform Commission (VLRC) recommendations
• Deliver a new standalone Youth Justice Act

• Improve access to disability support, advocacy and coordination initiatives for people with disability in contact with the justice system and resolve problems at the NDIS and justice system interface
• Lead the department’s response to the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide and the response to the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability
• Progress adoption reforms, prioritising governance and accountability, so that past practices are never repeated
• Review the Retirement Villages Act 1986 to deliver better protection for retirement and lifestyle village residents
• Implement revised regulatory arrangements for Gaming and Liquor to ensure there is a dedicated and separate focus on liquor and gambling regulation via Liquor Control Victoria and the Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission
• Implement recommendations from the Royal Commission into the Casino Operator and Licence to ensure the casino is operated in accordance with the highest standards of integrity
• Implement the government’s response to the Inquiry into Anti-Vilification Protections, including implementing the Summary Offences Amendment (Nazi Symbol Prohibition) Act 2022 to prohibit the public display of Nazi symbols

• Deliver public intoxication reforms to transition from a justice-based approach to a health response, including a new standalone Bill and cultural competency initiatives
• Develop an Adolescent Family Violence Strategy for the Victorian justice system
• Support the implementation of recommendations from the independent review of sexual harassment in Victorian Courts
• Implement the government’s response to the Inquiry into Responses to Historical Forced Adoptions in Victoria, including the design of a redress scheme
• Review police oversight arrangements and the discipline and complaint process for Victoria Police
• Develop the Crimes Legislation Amendment Bill to create a new statutory indictable offence of engaging in conduct that is grossly offensive to community standards of acceptable conduct
• Develop the Justice Legislation Amendment (Sexual Offences and Other Matters) Bill, to improve the law on sexual offences and better support complainants, in line with recommendations made by the VLRC in its 2021 Improving the Justice System Response to Sexual Offences report
• Develop the Justice Legislation Further Amendment (Criminal Appeals) Bill, to further improve and modernise summary appeal processes
• Support the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine to deliver best-practice forensic services, including through enhanced capability and infrastructure

• Implement remaining recommendations of the 2017 Open Courts Act Review
• Strengthen engagement with the judiciary and other justice system partners to better leverage community corrections as a sentencing option
• Implement the new mandatory registration scheme for professional engineers under the Professional Engineers Registration Act 2019

• Respond to and implement the recommendations of the cultural review of the adult custodial corrections system to help create a safer, more inclusive workforce culture
• Deliver initiatives of the Youth Justice Custodial and Community based workforce plans, including attraction, retention and capability building initiatives such as the vocational qualification
• Review the Secretary’s powers to refuse a Working with Children (WWC) check application to reduce non-mandatory demand for WWC checks
• Implement legislative amendments and review of the Legal Profession Uniform Law Application Act 2014​​​​​​
• Transition all WWC check and NDIS check applications to Service Victoria

• Lead implementation of sex work decriminalisation reforms, including those that follow full decriminalisation in December 2023
• Review financial counselling and tenancy services to update existing service delivery models
• Develop products that better enable Victorians to affirm, identify and prove their identity
• Work with the Sheriff and other stakeholders to design, implement and evaluate the trial of sheriff’s officers serving family violence applications

• Undertake cyber remediation and security uplift activities crucial to the department’s mitigation activities

• Develop a department-wide incident management framework and business continuity plans for mission critical functions that impact service delivery to the community

• Rebuild Bendigo Law Courts as a purpose-built regional headquarter court to improve access to justice services
• Implement Better, Connected Care reforms to provide greater accessibility and improved responsiveness to common clients across Corrections and Justice Service and other government services
• Develop the Justice Legislation Amendment (Trial by Judge Alone and Other Matters) Bill, to allow some criminal trials and special hearings under the Crimes (Mental Impairment and Unfitness to be Tried) Act 1997 to be heard by a judge rather than a jury

Support the court system’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic through increased resourcing of the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal and County Court and various programs to deliver more support and efficient processes.

• Develop the Intersectionality Framework, focusing on addressing the impact of systemic discrimination
• Implement WorkCover operational and legislative reforms to provide support for injured workers, including facilitating delivery of the Workplace Incidents Consultative Committee’s work program
• Implement recommendations of the Ombudsman’s Review into Complex Claims, including delivery of a new arbitration function for compensation disputes and supporting WorkSafe’s implementation of the government’s response to the Independent Agent Review
• Expand the Central After Hours and Bail Placement Service and establish the after-hours online Children’s Court service to ensure that children and young people are not remanded unnecessarily
• Work with the Magistrates’ Court to implement changes to make it faster and cheaper for workers to get their unpaid wages and/or entitlements through the courts
• Reform the rooming house sector, including through the remaking of the Rooming House Regulations in 2022

• Establish a new administrative Financial Assistance Scheme for victims of crime to replace the current court-based model
• Improve and enhance support services within the justice system for victim-survivors of sexual harm
• Enhance the way victims are supported through the criminal justice process, including through innovative use of technology

• Review the legal services operating model across the Victorian Public Sector to ensure it is fit for purpose and aligned to government priorities
• Develop the department’s Disability Action Plan and Cultural Diversity plans
• Develop and implement the department’s Integrity Strategy
• Implement the department’s Health, Safety and Wellbeing Strategy

• Develop a justice system data and technology reform strategy
• Maximise the use of available technology to modernise IT and data systems across Corrections and Justice Services, including offender, prisoner, prison and health record systems
• Replace the Residential Tenancies Bond Authority Registry System with an updated platform to more effectively meet the current and future requirements of rental providers, landlords, renters and other customers
• Deliver better, more efficient pathways for Victorians to engage with the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages

• Re-design the sheriff’s operating model and associated systems and tools

• Deliver community-based and Aboriginal-led justice projects as outlined in Burra Lotjpa Dunguludja (AJA4) and reflected in Victoria’s Closing the Gap Implementation Plan
• Provide grants to fund Regional Aboriginal Justice Advisory Committee (RAJAC) determined justice programs and implement RAJAC regional plans
• Develop a dedicated group of Aboriginal staff who provide dispute resolution information for members of the community

• Implement Community Based Youth Diversion Programs supporting Aboriginal young people through culturally grounded programs
• Deliver priority initiatives under Wirkara Kulpa, Victoria’s Aboriginal Youth Justice Strategy, including at least one Aboriginal Youth Justice Hub and Case Management Review Panels for Aboriginal children and young people
• Implement the Spent Convictions Scheme to ensure the Scheme operates in a fair, equitable and efficient manner
• Support governance groups to progress priority justice reforms including the Meeting of Attorneys-General on the Age of Criminal Responsibility, Justice Policy Partnership under the National Agreement, Closing the Gap Implementation Partnership Forum and Aboriginal Justice Forum
• Redevelop the Baroona Youth Healing Service, providing extensive capital improvement to the existing site and program expansion for young Aboriginal men
• Support an Aboriginal-led review of the progress implementing recommendations from the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody and inquest recommendations from subsequent deaths in custody
• Coordinate justice system engagement with the Victorian treaty process
• Evaluate the Burra Lotjpa Dunguludja (AJA4) to identify improvements to program and service development
• Develop the Aboriginal Justice Agreement Phase 5, building upon its predecessors to further improve justice programs and services for Aboriginal people
• Develop and implement strategies for improving access to private rentals by Aboriginal renters
• Meet the cultural, rehabilitative and healthcare needs of Aboriginal people in the corrections system, including through the introduction of the Aboriginal Healing Unit at the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre

• Continue implementation and delivery of the Stolen Generations Redress Scheme, in consultation with the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs
• Enhance culturally appropriate family violence services to Aboriginal people by Aboriginal community-controlled organisations
• Consult and develop an Aboriginal Victims of Crime Strategy, informed by key principles of cultural safety and self-determination so that the victim support system can better respond to the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples

• Support Traditional Owners to achieve the native title determination outcomes they seek
• Continue to work with First Peoples and support the Attorney-General to respond to native title claims made in the Federal Court
• Negotiate and implement agreements between the State and Traditional Owner Groups, under the Traditional Owner Settlement Act 2010 (Vic)
• Work in partnership with the Dja Dja Wurrung Clans Aboriginal Corporation to negotiate changes in response to the 2018 Initial Outcomes Review of the Traditional Owner Settlement Act 2010 (Vic) agreement signed in 2013

• Develop cultural safety standards for health services in Youth Justice and develop the Aboriginal Social and Emotional Wellbeing Plan for young people across the system, in line with Wirkara Kulpa

• Coordinate justice system responses to the Yoo-rrook Justice Commission into historical and ongoing systemic injustices for Aboriginal people
• Implement the AJA4 Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Framework to inform program and service development

• Implement a grants management digital solution to enhance oversight and reporting on outcomes for Aboriginal people in contact with the justice system