Victoria dumps raising age of criminal responsibility

The state government is pushing ahead with legislation to raise the current age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 12.

It had originally planned under former premier Daniel Andrews to eventually raise the age to 14 by 2027.

But following a series of prominent incidents involving alleged youth offenders including two fatal car crashes, the government has decided to dump that move.

"Twelve is where it will stay," Ms Allan told reporters.

"This decision has been made at a different time by a different government with a different premier."

Children as young as 10 can be charged, convicted and imprisoned across Australia, except in the Northern Territory, which raised the age of criminal responsibility to 12 in August 2023.

The ACT passed legislation to raise the age to 14 by 2025 with some exceptions, while Tasmania has pledged to raise the minimum age of criminal detention to 14.

Victoria is also re-introducing charges of committing an offence while on bail for adults and children - laws that were only repealed in March.

It will also make bail harder to get.

"Bail is a privilege, not a given," Ms Allan said.

Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes argued the new bail offence was a different as it was for committing serious crimes rather than indictable offences.