A 26-year-old man is the first person in Victoria to be charged under new laws designed to better protect police officers from violent attacks after he was allegedly involved in ramming four police vehicles in Melbourne's north.

He was one of two men arrested after a dramatic high-speed car chase ended at Northland Shopping Centre in Preston.

The incident occurred on the same day tougher penalties, including mandatory jail terms, came into effect for the offence of aggravated intentional exposure of an emergency worker to risk by driving.

The laws were passed last year, and mean that offenders cannot be sentenced to a community-corrections order, but face a mandatory two-year minimum jail term, with a presumption against bail.