The Law Handbook 2024

1050 Section 11: Rights, activism and fair treatment at work • the court imposes a secure residential order; or • there are ‘substantial and compelling reasons that are exceptional and rare’. These Sentencing Act provisions do not apply to children aged under 18 years. Driving offences and emergency workers Intentionally or recklessly exposing an emergency worker to risk by driving carries a penalty of up to 20 years in jail, whether or not the worker is injured (s 317AC Crimes Act (Vic)). A non-parole period of at least two years may apply if the emergency worker is injured (s 10AE(1) Sentencing Act). Park rangers It is also an offence under Victorian law for someone to obstruct, assault, threaten or abuse an authorised officer while performing their functions under the National Parks Act 1975 (Vic) (s 45(1)). The maximum penalty is six months in jail or 20 pu. Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth) Under Commonwealth law it is an offence to ‘intentionally and knowingly obstruct, resist, hinder, use violence against, threaten or intimidate’ a federal police officer who is carrying out a ‘function or duty’ (sch 1 item 149(1) Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth)). The maximum penalty is two years in jail. Violent disorder The common law offence of riot has been abolished. ‘Violent disorder’ occurs where six or more people together use, or threaten to use, unlawful violence with a common goal or intention and their conduct together causes injury or damages property. An individual is only guilty of violent disorder if they intended to use or intended to threaten violence, or were reckless about whether their conduct involved violence or threatened violence. The penalty for violent disorder is 10 years in jail. The penalty increases to 15 years in jail if the person committed the offence while wearing a face covering, and was wearing the face covering primarily to conceal their identity or to protect themselves from the effects of crowd-controlling substances (s 195I(3) Crimes Act (Vic)). Affray The common lawoffence of affray has been abolished. To prove the statutory offence of affray, the prosecution must prove that a person used, or threatened to use, unlawful violence and that the person’s conduct would cause a person of reasonable firmness to be terrified. A person is only guilty of affray if they intended to use or intended to threaten violence, or were reckless about whether their conduct involved violence or threatened violence. The maximum penalty for affray is five years in jail. The penalty increases to seven years in jail if the person committed the offence while wearing a mask, and was wearing the face covering primarily to conceal their identity or to protect themselves from the effects of crowd-controlling substances (s 195H(1) Crimes Act (Vic)). Property damage Property could be damaged unintentionally during a protest or the damage may be part of a protest. Under Victorian law there are a number of offences that relate to damaging property. The most significant of these is set out in section 197 of the Crimes Act (Vic), which provides for jail sentences of up to 15 years where there is an intention to endanger life or damage property. Where the intention is to only damage property, the maximum penalty is 10 years in jail. Generally, this section is used for the more serious examples of damage to property. This charge could be laid by police in situations involving gluing padlocks, painting security cameras or pulling down a fence. In addition to the sentence, police will usually ask the court to order that the defendant pay the cost of repairing the damaged property; this can be a significant amount. Wilful damage charges are generally used where there has been less significant damage to property (i.e. under $5000 to repair). These less serious property damage offences can be found in section 9 of the SO Act. The maximum penalties are much lower: six months in jail or a fine of 25 pu. Penalties for property damage offences can range from an ‘adjourned undertaking’ through to imprisonment. If you cause only minor damage to property, and you have few or no police priors, the penalty will fall towards the lower end of this range.