politics

Live: Stalking laws in focus, days from early voting in Victorian election

Live: Stalking laws in focus, days from early voting in Victorian election

Stalking laws in focus, days from early voting in Victorian election. The Liberals pledge to create anti-stalking laws in the name of murdered Melbourne woman Celeste Manno and Labor talks up its plan to tackle the elective surgery wait list, days from early voting in Victoria's election.

The major parties are pitching their policies to voters just two days before early voting opens in the Victorian election.

The Liberals have announced proposed new anti-stalking laws, dubbed Celeste's Law after murder victim Celeste Manno.

Labor leader Ben Carroll is pledging to slash public hospital waiting lists with a $1.2 billion investment.

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The Greens have taken a pop at both Labor and the Liberals over their policies on addressing youth crime.

The Liberals announced a $60 million policy which would enable judges to sentence some youth offenders to a stint in boot camp.

Labor last week unveiled a plan to sentence mid-level youth offenders to detention for up to 12 months.

Greens justice spokesperson Katherine Copsey isn't impressed with either approach.

"Labor and the Liberals are locked in a grotesque competition to see who can announce the cruellest headline and lock up the most children," she says.

"Jess Wilson wants to send kids to prison boot camps to do farm labour. Ben Carroll wants to lock them up for a year and call it therapy.

"Neither has a serious plan to stop children entering the justice system in the first place."

The Greens say they would invest in early intervention, youth diversion and expanded mental health services to address youth crime.

With just 12 days to go before the election, Labor's primary vote shows little sign of turning around.

Pollster Kos Samaras from Redbridge Group says his organisation's polling now paints a poor picture for Labor in terms of primary vote.

"Very clear that the Labor Party's trailing in the polls. They're now around the low 20s. They were polling in the mid-20s for a good part of this year," he tells 774 ABC Melbourne.

Samaras, who is a former Labor strategist, says it's a better story for the Liberals, whose primary vote is slowly climbing.

"The difference with them is that they have gone from the mid-20s to about the low 30s now, and this is why they are well positioned to win this election."

Samaras says both parties left their campaign launches late and it will be tough to make an impact on voters this late in the game.

"People tend to tune out from politics, even during an election. It takes them a long time to get cut-through."

Health Minister Ingrid Stitt has been spruiking yesterday's announcement from Labor that they would pump $1.2 billion into public hospitals to slash surgery waiting lists by half.

The pledge would fund an extra 100,000 planned surgeries in public hospitals, while a complementary promise to fund an extra 500,000 specialist appointments would involve a $195 million spend.

"We are performing record numbers of surgeries, but the demand is growing and that is for a number of reasons, including population growth and a higher level of acuity of people presenting at our emergency departments," Stitt told 774 ABC Melbourne.

The Coalition announced its own plan last month to halve the waiting list for elective surgeries.

Jess Wilson said her party would establish a $1.27 billion program where the government would pay private hospitals to deliver some elective surgeries to public patients, at no cost to the patient.

Stitt says Labor would not go down that road.

"We will deliver all of these additional surgeries in the public health system. That's not what the Liberal proposal is all about," she says.

"Jess Wilson's first instinct was to send surgeries to private, for-profit hospitals."

Stitt defended Labor's recent record on the issue, saying despite dropping a target in 2024, record surgeries were being carried out in the public system.

Opposition leader Jess Wilson has announced stalkers will be placed under 24-hour GPS monitoring as part of proposed new laws.

The proposed new legislation has been dubbed 'Celeste's Law' after 23-year-old Celeste Manno, who was murdered by a former colleague who stalked her for months.

The Liberals say the law implements all of the Victorian Law Reform Commission's report on stalking.

"Celeste Manno should still be here today. Her death exposed gaps in our justice system that must be addressed," Jess Wilson says.

"Whether your stalker is a former partner, a colleague or a stranger, you deserve the same protection under the law."

In addition to 24-hour monitoring, stalkers would be subject to intervention orders, with exclusion zones around victims' homes and workplaces.

The policy also includes mandatory specialist stalking training for Victoria Police recruits and serving officers.

Good morning and welcome to today's Victorian state election live blog.

Stay with us as we bring you the latest news from the campaign trail.

  • voting
  • election
  • law
  • focus
  • liberals
  • melbourne
  • woman
  • celeste

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