Until December last year, Meena Singh was the Victorian commissioner for Aboriginal children and young people, a role that saw her advocating for some of the state's most vulnerable children.
She had held the role since 2022. In all that time, she says, nobody from the Victorian government had approached her with a proposal like the one the Victorian premier, Ben Carroll, announced last week: a $204m "tough love" plan to send children who commit low and mid-level offences to secure facilities, including the former Malmsbury youth justice centre, for schooling, drug and alcohol treatment and life skills.
"If you are on the trajectory of committing crime like carrying a knife or looking to steal cars, you can expect to be detained and be put in this new mandatory detention in Malmsbury," Carroll told reporters last Sunday.
"We have seen how, where you break the cycle, it can turn young lives around."
Singh says she was "quite horrified" by the announcement.
"It is very misleading to try and paint the imprisonment of children as therapeutic," Singh, now a professor at Monash law school, tells Guardian Australia.
"Children who are getting in trouble with the law, there are reasons behind it … Imprisoning these children is effectively imprisoning them for traumas they have experienced rather than the behaviours they are displaying."
She is far from alone in her criticism. The Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service called the announcement "mandatory sentencing dressed up as political leadership" and the Justice Reform Initiative said it was a "dramatically disproportionate response". The same organisations were among the legal and human rights groups that lashed other Labor changes introduced this term in an attempt to bring down the state's crime rate – including "adult time for violent crime" and tougher bail laws.
Even the state's union movement has criticised this proposal, with the Trades Hall secretary, Luke Hilakari, taking to his personal social media account to publicly rebuke the government.
"Honestly thought the policy of locking up children for a year for shopping lifting [shoplifting] or vandalism was from the Liberal party," he wrote, adding that one of the most common items stolen was groceries.
"How about we fix disadvantage rather than deepening it.
"And if you want to win an election, could we leave issues in the Liberal party frame to the Liberals."
Hilakari finished his post by sharing a DemosAU poll, released on Monday, showing Labor on a primary vote of 18% – the lowest figure in its history. That same day, Carroll was in South Melbourne spruiking a $70m plan to hire police reservists to reopen police stations Labor has closed over the term and $300m to build and renovate stations.
Half a dozen MPs from across the party's factional lines, not authorised to speak publicly, also shared their concerns with Guardian Australia. Some said Labor was handing the Liberals a free kick by choosing to campaign on crime after presiding over rising crime rates and the closure of police stations.
Others say they gritted their teeth and supported the earlier measures, hoping it would be enough to stem the bleeding on the issue. This hasn't eventuated – a separate RedBridge poll, released on Wednesday, had the party at a 23% primary vote. And it said Labor was 18 points behind the Coalition on crime.
"How are we here?" one MP said.
Another Labor strategist, who requested anonymity to speak freely, described the announcement as "a metaphor for the complete lack of clarity regarding our identity and message for Victorian voters".
The strategist was particularly disturbed to see Davydd Griffths, Labor's candidate in Melbourne – a seat currently held by the Greens leader, Ellen Sandell – standing behind the premier for the press conference.
"What targeted Melbourne voter would support that policy? The focus on crime this week has scrapped any chance of winning Melbourne off the Greens," they said.
For MPs on the right of the party, it's "too little too late". They say crime disproportionately affects working-class communities, particularly in the outer-suburban seats Labor needs to retain – and other MPs would've known this earlier if they were actually in touch with their constituents.
"This is a reflection that, since the campaign started three weeks ago, they've been copping it out door knocking, at street stalls, shopping centres on crime," one MP said.
Those on the left say the proposal is further proof Labor has abandoned its values. Carroll has pitched himself as a "centrist", an "economically conservative, socially progressive premier". He's also sought to distance himself from a government he has been part of for more than a decade. The slogan printed on the rear of his big red campaign bus is anything but subtle: "New Premier, New Direction".
The strategy appears to be based on the idea that voters want a decisive break with the past. But there are concerns that, in trying to disown the government's record, he is also disowning the Labor movement's achievements over the past 12 years. It risks giving voters little reason to remember why they voted for them in the first place.
One MP said a growing group of colleagues were "furious" that the new leadership had "overseen the trashing of the government's legacy and instead delivered an election campaign focused almost exclusively on the Big Build royal commission and law and order – two issues losing votes for Labor".
"Having lost all but our most rusted-on Labor voters to other parties, it looks like they are now happy to see how far we can push before they leave us as well," the MP said.
There's evidence this is happening. Monday's DemosAU poll had the Greens at a record high 17%. This was prior to Labor's move to run an open ticket in Prahran, which has angered progressives.
The Greens responded on Friday by confirming they will be running their version of an open ticket – urging people to put the Greens first and One Nation last rather than direct preferences.
There's no doubt this will hurt Labor in a number of seats, capping off another difficult week on the campaign trail.
