- Utilise your Legal expertise to provide support and advice to the Civil and Criminal Law Policy branch
- Fixed-Term (to 29th May 2026) Full-Time opportunity available to lead major criminal law projects in the Attorney-General's portfolio
- Lead a small team of high performing legal policy officers
- VPS Grade 6.1: $138,631 - $162,076 plus superannuation.
About Us:
Criminal Law Policy (CLP) is a unit within the Courts, Civil and Criminal Law (CCCL) group of the Department of Justice and Community Safety (DJCS). We lead policy development and law reform across criminal law issues, including delivering the Attorney-General's legislative reform program and national reform projects through the Standing Council of Attorneys-General.
We are responsible for developing policy and legislative reform in a broad range of areas, including bail, summary crime, counter-terrorism, family violence, offence reform (including sexual offences), sentencing, criminal procedure (e.g. committal and appeal processes), jury directions and evidence.
Some of CLP's current and recent projects include:
- reviewing the stalking offence as informed by the Victorian Law Reform Commission's (VLRC) Stalking report,
- developing reforms to the Bail Act 1977,
- other reforms to strengthen community safety, including developing new offences for performance crime, and reforms to ensure family violence intervention orders and personal safety intervention orders enhance victim safety and hold perpetrators to account.
We work collaboratively with key entities across the justice system and the department to ensure policy reform is strategic, relevant, holistic and people-centred. We also support the department's relationship with key statutory agencies like the Office of Public Prosecutions and the Sentencing Advisory Council.
About the Role:
Managers in CLP each lead a team of legal policy officers and play a vital role in providing leadership and technical expertise across the team. Managers in CLP work collaboratively with other managers, as well as supporting the Senior Manager and Director to drive the outcomes and objectives of the department in a dynamic and responsive environment. In this role, you will have the opportunity to lead delivery of criminal law projects in the Attorney-General's portfolio.
About You:
As our ideal candidate you will have:
- Extensive experience managing a team to develop and deliver complex policy or law reform projects, including developing team capabilities at an individual and team level
- Thorough Knowledge and experience of processes for developing policy and legislation within a parliamentary system
- A strong understanding of current criminal law issues, and technical expertise in areas such as bail or family violence
- High-level influencing and negotiation skills to work collaboratively with our partners
Qualifications/Requirements:
- A tertiary qualification in law is required. Experience working in justice policy or in government is highly desirable
How to Apply:
Please click the Apply button on this advertisement. Applications should include a resume and covering letter. Attachments can be uploaded in .doc, .docx, .pdf, .txt or .rtf formats.
The successful candidate will be required to undergo pre-employment checks which may include reference checks, national police checks and misconduct screening. Dependant on the role, other checks may include VicRoads checks, drivers licence checks, medical checks, Working with Children Checks, and Declaration of Private Interests (for executive and responsible officer roles).
If you require adjustments to the recruitment and selection process, or require an alternative format to any of the application material, please don't hesitate to get in touch with the contact person listed on this ad.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION:
CHILD SAFE STATEMENT OF COMMITMENT:
The Department of Justice and Community Safety is committed to the safety and wellbeing of children and young people. We seek to prevent harm of any kind impacting children and young people and have zero tolerance for racism, child abuse and inequality. Children and young people's rights, relationships, identity, and culture must be recognised and respected, their voices heard, and their concerns acted upon. We aim to foster a culturally safe, child safe and child friendly environment for all children and young people we have contact with, deliver services to, or are impacted by our work.
