Legal Laneway Breakfast hears from new Attorney-General

By the LIJ News Brief 05 February 2025

New Victorian Attorney-General Sonya Kilkenny spoke at the Legal Laneway Breakfast hosted by Victorian Law Foundation on Tuesday morning. Addressing the more than 250 lawyers who filled Hardware Lane, she said they played a critical role in law reform work that aimed to support victims, hold offenders accountable and build on Victoria's world-leading response to family violence.

Before entering politics, Kilkenny worked in private practice at Herbert Smith Freehills and was Head of Legal at ANZ. She had also worked with the Kimberley Land Council as a senior lawyer and commercial consultant, an experience she said “had a truly profound impact on me”.

“What a time to be coming back to the law,” she said of her new role. “I really feel like we are at an inflection point with global issues and global conflicts playing out right here at home. We are at a time when we've never had so much access to information – yet we are plagued with so much misinformation.”

“This makes a really critical time for us now to be decisive and . . . to ensure that our communities remain strong and supported, and that we work together to uphold our shared values.”

Attorney-General Sonya Kilkenny

Critical reforms

Kilkenny acknowledged the importance of reforms she inherited from her predecessor Jaclyn Symes, including introducing an affirmative consent model for sexual offences, criminalising the Nazi salute, and Victoria becoming the first state to raise the age of criminal responsibility to 12.

Critical reforms to the Bail Act 1977 that came into operation in December would ensure that the decision to grant or deny bail would be about the risk that the person poses to the community, she said.

Family violence crackdown

Noting that “family violence is our number one law and order issue within this state”, she said the government would continue to crack down on family violence and coercive control by strengthening family violence intervention orders and safety notice schemes, and clarifying the offence of stalking.

She also described the anti-vilification and social cohesion bill shortly to be debated as “a piece of work that is particularly important to me and important to our state government”.

“All of you in the profession play a critical role in this law reform work,” she said, “by sharing your insights and experiences to help guide the design and enliven those laws by interpreting them, and applying and giving effect to them.”

School lawyer program

School lawyer Vincent Shin

Also speaking at the event was Vincent Shin, WestJustice's Youth Law Program Manager and Australia's first full-time school lawyer.

Shin said the school lawyer program was an example of the kind of innovative work community lawyers can do to ensure the most vulnerable and marginalised members of the community are provided with access to justice.

Embedded in school wellbeing teams, school lawyers teach young people about their legal rights and their legal responsibilities, covering topics such as bullying, consent, family violence, police powers and employment rights.

Importance of mentoring

Shin shared his unconventional path into the law, in which his education was impeded by family violence. It was not till after many years of applications that he was finally accepted into law school, supported by his mentor, Magistrate Paul Smith.

He urged those in the profession to consider mentoring in any capacity, to help bring to the legal profession people from all walks of life. “Don't underestimate the impact you can have on junior lawyers and law students,” he said.

VLF projects

VLF CEO Lynne Haultain

VLF CEO Lynne Haultain reminded the legal community that Law Week was just around the corner and urged them to suggest ideas for events. She also encouraged people to read the third volume of the PULS report on the links between legal need and legal capability. This will be followed up later this year by the Measure for Measure research project, which will explore what makes an effective response to common legal problems.

Performing at the event was Wiradjuri opera singer Shauntai Sherree Abdul-Rahman, who sang Deborah Cheetham's composition ‘Long Time Living Here’ in the language of the Boonwurrung people, as well as the Australian national anthem.

Wiradjuri opera singer Shauntai Sherree Abdul-Rahman

Dr Melissa Castan, Professor and Associate Dean (Staffing) in Monash University Law, and Director of the Castan Centre for Human Rights Law introduced the event