On Monday night Mr Andrews released a joint statement with the two unions that said courts would be required to impose a custodial sentence on anyone who attacks and injures an emergency services worker. The attacks will soon be treated as a category one offence. "This will treat these offences in the same category as murder and rape," the statement said. The new laws will be introduced to State Parliament within weeks. However, the government and unions will agree on how the laws will apply to juveniles in coming months. Meanwhile, advanced life support paramedic, Stacey Heaney, has called for greater safety measures for emergency service workers. Advanced life support paramedic, Stacey Heaney, has called for greater safety measures for emergency service workers.

In an emotive post on Facebook which has been shared more than 6000 times, Ms Heaney described the "dark side" of the everyday dangers paramedics face. Ms Heaney, who has been a paramedic for four years, said within the first few months of working in the job she was verbally abused, spat on and threatened numerous times. "I thought it was just part of the job," she wrote on Facebook. "It wasn't until I was physically attacked that I truly realised the dark side of working the streets." Ms Heaney detailed an incident a year ago where she arrived to assist a intoxicated patient lying in the middle of the road in Tarneit only to discover it was a "trap" and the patient was waiting there with a knife.

"The patient jumped up and started charging us trying to punch me in the face," she wrote. "I feared for my partner as she had small children at home ... We hid in the truck whilst the person banged and kicked all the panels on the unit to get to us, jumping on the bonnet every time we tried to escape." Ms Heaney said the person was never charged for the attack. "This is just one of the many stories of violence we face in our workplace which is happening more frequently," she wrote. "That is why proper laws in place is so important to me and my colleagues so that it acts as a deterrent." Following the incident, Ms Heaney said she now assesses the “exit points” every time she turns up to a similar scene.

Police Minister Lisa Neville said the government would ensure emergency service workers were protected by toughening laws. She said loopholes would be tightened so that anyone who injures a police officer, paramedic or other emergency services worker would face jail. When asked if mental incapacity would qualify as a special exemption to jail time, Ms Neville said cabinet would have a “full discussion” about the issue on Monday afternoon. Victorian Police Association secretary Wayne Gatt said the problem of attacks on police officers was getting worse. “There’s a complete lack of respect for our members out there. We’re seeing that grow,” he said. “It’s a real issue that’s confronting us as a society.”

The issue reignited last week when two women who were sentenced to jail last year after being found guilty of assaulting paramedics were released on appeal. Amanda Warren and Caris Underwood, who in 2016 attacked two paramedics in Reservoir after a day-long binge on bourbon, champagne and cannabis, were last year jailed by a magistrate for eight months and four months respectively. But the pair immediately appealed against their sentences, and last week County Court judge Barbara Cotterell upheld the challenges and quashed the prison terms. Judge Cotterell ruled the pair had made "enormous" efforts to turn their lives around after "appalling" childhoods and battles with drug, alcohol and mental-health problems. She also found both women were probably mentally impaired when they attacked Paramedic Paul Judd and his colleague Chenaye Bentley on March 31, 2016. Mr Judd suffered multiple injuries, including fractures in his foot and was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after the attack. He has not been able to return to work.

A change.org petition was created calling for Underwood and Warren to "face the consequences of the crime they have committed". About 20,000 people have signed it. The government announced last week it would toughen laws on assaulting an emergency services worker. Opposition attorney-general John Pesutto said “sob stories” including traumatic childhoods should not be used as excuses for attacking workers trying to help others. He said exemptions to jail time were supposed to be “exceptional, genuine and rare”. “And yet they’re used in every single case,” he said.