The father of killed Melbourne woman Courtney Herron has been announced as a candidate for Derryn Hinch’s Justice party at next month’s Victorian state election.
John Herron, a navy veteran and lawyer with practices in regional Victoria, will run for the party in the upper house, alongside Simone O’Brien, a domestic violence survivor. Justice party MPs Tania Maxwell and Stuart Grimely – elected in 2018 – will contest again, while Hinch, a former federal senator for Victoria, will also run for the upper house.
Herron described himself as an “accidental candidate” who was motivated by the killing of his daughter in Melbourne’s Royal Park in May 2019.
“My daughter would have wanted me to fight for her and other female victims of crime to ensure both her killer and others are not allowed to perpetrate these crimes in the first place, and to level appropriate punishment and treatment, so Victorian society can again be a functioning democracy,” he said.
Courtney Herron’s attacker – who was on a community corrections order at the time of the offence – was later found not guilty due to mental impairment but was ordered to 25 years in a psychiatric facility.
The Justice party is calling for a family violence disclosure scheme to help warn potential victims about perpetrators, a public register of child sexual abuse offenders and further tightening of the state’s bail laws.
After the Bourke Street killings in 2017, the Andrews government tightened Victoria’s bail laws. Under the reform – which has resulted in a significant increase in the state’s remand population and delays for court hearings – the person charged with an offence must prove they meet “exceptional circumstances” or have “compelling reasons” to be released on bail.
In March, a parliamentary report on Victoria’s criminal justice system recommended the state review its bail laws, with the changes leading to a rise in the number of people on remand. It found the bail system had disproportionately affected women, Aboriginal Victorians, children and young people, and people living with a disability.
The executive director of the Justice Reform Initiative, Mindy Sotiri, said a “tough on crime” policy response did not work when it came to community safety.
“We’re keen for this election to not be a law and order election,” she said. “Although we often turn to prison as a policy response when horrific things happen, what we need to be thoughtful about is what it is we’re trying to achieve and re-look at the evidence of what prisons, tougher penalties and harsher bail legislation [do].
“When there are calls to toughen bail laws we need to have alarm bells ringing because of the unintended consequences.”
When asked about the possibility of bail reform in future, Victoria’s attorney general, Jaclyn Symes, said she had “unfinished business” to continue if re-elected.
