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The Andrews Labor government has announced that it will provide nearly a quarter of a billion dollars to help drive down COVID-19 court backlogs and bolster resources in courts across the state.
By Cam Lucadou-Wells
For ‘Aaron’, the presence of three judges may have boded ill for him.
But the Dandenong Drug Court ‘graduate’ was instead feted by a captive audience of state Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes, Dandenong MP Gabrielle Williams, Victoria’s Chief Magistrate Lisa Hannan and magistrates Susan Wakeling and Suzanne Cameron.
In the eyes of the justice system, Aaron is a “superstar” who made the most of a golden chance to recover from the lowest depths.
And the Drug Court is being hailed as a success story. A more cost-effective option than prison that delivers lower re-offending rates.
At the launch of the Drug Court’s new offices in Dandenong, he deservedly took centre stage.
A mother who viciously attacked her eight-week-old daughters, leaving one dead and the other with permanent brain damage, has enjoyed a Mother s Day celebration with her family.
Tina Terlato killed newborn Amanda and assaulted the youngster s twin sister Alicia so brutally in their suburban Melbourne home on Anzac Day in 2012 that she now has lifelong disabilities.
She pleaded guilty to the downgraded charge of infanticide rather than murder, meaning she never spent a day behind bars, and has since been approved to work with children in a new role with the Essendon cheer club designing AFL banners.
The decision, which came almost exactly nine years to the day of the anniversary of the senseless killing, left the father of her three children Paul Terlato disgusted .
Michaela Meade
Hume council is calling for police to be given greater power to deal with hoon drivers, as it prepares to review its own local laws in a bid to crackdown on hoon behaviour.
Councillor Jack Medcraft last week asked the council to write to Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes and acting Police Minister Danny Pearson to request changes to police powers, in response to growing community concerns about hoon activity in Hume.
The council is also preparing to review it’s General Local Law No.1, which governs the safety of the municipality, and will investigate whether changes to the law can be used to support police in relation to hooning.