By Ethan Benedicto
The Brentwood Milkbar in Berwick has been burgled twice in the span of two months, a grisly and intimidating start to the new year.
Recently, on Sunday, 9 March, three offenders dressed in black burgled the store just a hundred metres into Bemersyde Drive, making demands for money and cigarettes.
Nearly two months prior, a similar scene unfolded, with two offenders ransacking the store before leaving in a red sedan.
Nehemiah, one of the staff employed at the local family business, said that there has been a strong emotional impact on himself, the other employees and the owners.
Though thankfully, he was not working during both incidents, he said that “it’s really hard to feel safe in the area”.
“To work there, but also just being around; even at home, sometimes I just feel like, ‘what if something happens again?’
“And if they were to come again, it would be a big hassled to go through the police reports and al that.
“It’s just been hard to feel like we can be comfortable, and for me and the workers, that’s a really big thing,” he said.
With the owners overseas, Nehemiah said that care for the store has been left to the younger staff, such as himself.
While they may not be at the scene, nor in the country, he recalled that the owners have felt the burden of the incidents mentally, especially regarding their frequency.
Nehamiah said that extra security measures are being discussed; however, “at the end of the day we shouldn’t need to do this”.
“We shouldn’t have to put up so much extra security, and even the extra barrier security that we have inside wasn’t there just a few months ago,” he said.
Nehemiah, whose family lives in Cranbourne, applied for an opening at the store when the current owners purchased it in December 2024.
He recalled that much like the other staff, he was eager to start work, and the owners were also keen on continuing the local amenities and goods that the milkbar has provided the area in the past years.
However, Nehemiah thought that things would be smoother and that “it would be a safe suburb and community”.
“But I guess, after being here for a while, it doesn’t really seem like it anymore.
“I think over time these areas have become more unsafe, especially with the laws around youth-related offence.
“It’s like they can commit a crime and essentially just get out free the next day, and I feel like it’s created a culture where minors can commit crimes and get away with it,” he said.
From his point of view, his and many others’ critiques of the current bail system is well deserved, where the “police can only do so much”.
On a similar note, Brad Battin, Liberal Party leader and Berwick MP, said on Sunday, 9 March, that the bail system is “out of control” during a press conference.
“The young people here in this state, these young offenders, they know they can get away with everything; they end up in court and back out within 90 minutes.
“They’re making a mockery of it when you see it in social media, and we continuously see them walking to the courts knowing that the outcome, no matter what the judge says, is bail,” he said.
The discussions around Victoria’s bail laws have been rife, taking into consideration the prolific strings of home invasions, burglaries and other similar crimes throughout the City of Casey.
The current Labor Government’s Youth Justice Bill in 2024, which separates the youth justice framework into its own Act, raises the age of criminal responsibility to 12 and emphasises rehabilitation for children.
Taking heed of the criticism of weak bail laws, the Bill also implements tougher consequences for serious youth offenders, with stricter bail conditions for those who commit violent crimes.
However, much of the Liberal Party and the Coalition echoes Battin’s sentiments, where he said that people are “sick and tired of hearing the fact that ‘oh, we’ve got to adjust the system’”.
“They (people) want action, and it is action what we’ve (Liberals) tried to put in place already.
“We have been very passionate to change the legislation back to ensure we have a tougher stance on bail here in our state.
“We need to put community safety first, and it’s about time the Allan Labor Government did that rather than the internal fights they’re going through right now,” he said.
Victoria’s current bail laws underwent a series of changes throughout the 2010s and into the 2020s, where the first major reform had its roots in the murder of Jill Meagher in September 2012 by a parolee on bail.
The Bail Amendment Act 2013 introduced two new offences while on bail, which carried up to three months’ imprisonment and were ideated to send a message that bail laws are to be taken seriously.
Further changes occurred in 2016 that targetted terrorism and youth offenders, one that exempted children from the new bail breach offences and instead created a presumption of favour for issuing a summons.
Stricter changes came in 2017, following the Bourke Street tragedy on 20 January, after James ‘Dimitrious’ Gargasoulas drove through Bourke Street Mall while on bail.
This also saw the addition of reverse onus provisions, which made it significantly more difficult for accused individuals – especially repeat violent offenders – to secure bail.
However, these changes saw bail refusals spike; whereas in 2013, only 18 per cent of Victoria’s prison population were unsentenced detainees, in June 2022, this had ballooned to 42 per cent.
Discourse with youth crime is balanced with the current Labor Government’s reforms that removed automatic bail refusals for minor repeat offences, scrapped the breach of bail as a standalone offence, and introduced a remand-prohibited offences list to prevent jailing people for crimes that are unlikely to lead to prison sentences.
These changes were short-lived, as their easing saw public backlash, and instead recently introduced a pilot program for electronic monitoring of high-risk youth on bail.
The question of overall balance still hangs, and more is to come if the state can truly find a middle ground on justice, rehabilitation and community safety.
