The state government has announced that attacks on emergency service workers will be treated the same as murder and “excuses” will be tightened.
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Under the proposed changes, impairment from alcohol or drugs and psychosocial immaturity would be removed as special reasons in mitigation and courts would need to give less weight to the life circumstances of offenders, including traumatic childhoods.
Charges of recklessly causing injury and recklessly or intentionally causing serious injury would become category one offences, the same as rape and murder, but charges could be dealt with by all three levels of court.
Watch – In the days following the court ruling, local paramedic Roger Dark said he was shattered for colleagues injured on the job:
The government planned on introducing the laws in the second sitting week of June.
The measures followed a meeting between Mr Andrews and the police and ambulance unions amid backlash over the quashing of a jail term for two women, Amanda Warren, 33, and Caris Underwood, 22,.
The women assaulted paramedic Paul Judd in 2016. Judge Barbara Cotterell said their traumatic childhoods and young families meant the minimum six-month term should not apply.
Last week, paramedics marked their ambulances with messages protesting the court decision and attacks on emergency service workers.
That included in Bendigo, with many ambulances carrying the message “it’s not OK to assault paramedics”.
Local advanced life support paramedic Roger Dark described it as a dreadful outcome.
“Mandatory is mandatory, not mandatory under certain circumstances. This case needs to be revisited,” he said last week.
“It’s simply not OK to assault paramedics. We do our best to assist every member of the general public but we cannot help anyone if we are in fear for our lives.”
Paramedic Jan Einsiedel said many people she and colleagues came across every day had difficult life circumstances but they did not assault emergency workers.
Ms Einsiedel said there was an unwritten trust between paramedics and the community that allowed the job to be done safely and patients to be treated.
“Most people abide by this agreement. There’s a cohort of people who don’t and they need to be managed correctly,” she said.
Opposition Leader Matthew Guy said the proposed changes did not go far enough and still allowed for judicial discretion.
“There's a real possibility these may be a change on press releases, but no change in reality at all,” he said.
His team plans on introducing a private member's bill on Tuesday to tighten sentencing laws.
- With AAP
