The Victorian Auditor-General's Office (VAGO) report, tabled in state parliament on Wednesday, revealed that since 2016 the government has allocated around $40 million to organisations providing mentoring and case management to at-risk young people. Despite this investment, the number of alleged youth offender incidents has climbed to a record level, from 17,115 in 2022 to 23,893 last year. The report also found it was unclear whether the program was reaching its intended recipients, noting that the proportion of participants who had offended or were alleged to have offended varied widely between community organisations, from 18 per cent to 92 per cent.
Opposition Leader Jess Wilson seized on the findings, stating: "We've had another auditor-general's report that demonstrates that this Labor government is wasting taxpayer money while seeing crime rates skyrocket in this state." Crime Prevention Minister Paul Edbrooke responded that youth offending rates had been declining in recent times and that a Violence Reduction Unit was established in late 2025. "VAGO confirms what we already know: the nature of youth offending is changing, which is why we've already given Victoria Police the powers they need to tackle serious and repeat offending," he said.
Andrew Bruun from Youth Support and Advocacy Service, which participates in the program, told the ABC that the organisation had seen promising results, with 50 per cent of their clients ceasing offending after engagement. He added that the report's finding that 30 per cent of participants do not offend could represent a net improvement in community safety if those individuals were previously involved in serious, high-volume offending. The VAGO report's recommendations, accepted by the justice department, include minimum participant data and record-keeping requirements to support eligibility decisions.