Victoria’s Labor government has announced $26.7 million in funding to expand a program that provides mental health support to youth criminals.
Premier Ben Carroll said last week the expansion of the Community Forensic Youth Mental Health Service (CFYMHS) would mean “more opportunities to tackle violent crime by getting in early to prevent it” and “create safer communities for all Victorians”.
The program is for young people aged 10 to 21, and focuses specifically on those who are at “high risk of offending, involved in the justice system, or displaying harmful behaviours”.
While announcing the funding Mr Carroll accused the Liberals and One Nation of trying to cut the government’s $44 million Violence Reduction Unit, which also includes early intervention programs and mental health initiatives, driven by government grants.
Attorney-General Sonya Kilkenny, who devised Victoria’s “hate speech” laws with Mr Carroll’s dumped predecessor Jacinta Allan while violent crime hit record highs, claimed that support programs reduced crime.
“We know early intervention works – getting alongside young people early, connecting them with the right support and helping stop harmful behaviour from escalating into crime,” she said.
But an audit by the Victorian Auditor-General’s Office (VAGO) found “no evidence” that the separate $40 million Youth Crime Prevention Program, which was launched by Premier Daniel Andrews in 2016, was reducing offending.
The audit found that 70% of participants offended again within six months of joining the program, which has a participation rate of just 2%.
“The [justice] department described it as a ‘proven’ initiative, but its program evaluations have not used any targets or benchmarks to measure what success in reducing youth offending looks like, so it cannot show the program works as intended,” the report stated.
Victoria has been plagued by African gang violence in recent years, with youth crime increasing by 40% between 2022 and 2025. Taxpayers are being charged more than $7,300 per day for each minor in youth detention, 50% of whom are of African descent.
Header image: Left, Ben Carroll and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (PMO). Right, an African gang machete attack in Melbourne (supplied).
