Shannon Deery: Victoria’s judiciary must get on board Jacinta Allan’s bail crackdown

Jacinta Allan is finally trying to tip the scales back towards community safety, and she’s put the ball for addressing the crisis squarely back in the courts.

For Jacinta Allan’s bail crackdown to work, Victoria’s judiciary must now get on board.

It’s one thing for the government to implement tough new laws, but without the support of magistrates and judges implementing them, they are ineffective.

We’ve seen it so many times before in circumstances where, to meet community expectations, the government has introduced minimum mandatory sentences.

There is a 10-year minimum for fatal coward punch assaults.

There are minimum prison terms of six months for intentionally or recklessly causing an injury to an emergency worker or prison officer.

Aggravated carjackings and aggravated home invasions also have mandatory terms attached to them.

Critically, for all of these mandatory terms, there are narrow circumstances, or “special reasons” that can be used to get around imposing them.

It’s the literal get out of jail card used by savvy lawyers and so readily accepted by members of the judiciary who do not like being told what to do.

Flexibility in the justice system is vital, one size fits all approach cannot effectively consider the myriad contributing factors that drive crime.

However that flexibility can be so easily exploited by the puppet masters in control of Victoria’s justice system.

Jacinta Allan has politically neutralised the crime crisis. Picture: David Crosling

Especially when you consider that almost 90 per cent of Victorian magistrates — those who deal with the bulk of bail applications — were appointed by Labor governments.

More than half were appointed since the Andrews government came to office in 2014.

That’s not to immediately assume they are all ideologically aligned, but it’s a good bet that there is a certain level of groupthink among them.

The Allan government will face a fierce backlash against the proposed toughened bail laws from legal, human rights and Indigenous advocacy groups.

They will, rightly, raise concerns about youth incarceration and the damaging effects that can have on recidivism.

Under the changes, denying bail and remanding young offenders no longer needs to be a last resort.

Removing the provision is politically smart in that it will make it far easier for serious, repeat, young offenders to be denied bail, but retains with the judiciary the flexibility to address matters on a case-by-case basis.

There appears no intention for young offenders caught up in petty crimes to be thrown behind bars.

The Premier has shifted the onus on to the courts. Picture: David Crosling

There is no question that getting bail laws right is a fine balancing act that must carefully consider both community safety and victims’ rights.

When she weakened bail laws in October 2023 — soon after taking over from Daniel Andrews — Ms Allan tipped the scales in favour of accuseds’ rights.

That followed years of advocacy and reviews in the wake of Victoria creating the toughest laws in the nation that made it impossible, in some cases, for bail to be granted even for minor offending.

In announcing her proposed new laws, which come close to reversing the 2023 changes, Ms Allan is attempting to tip the scales back towards community safety.

In doing so she has also politically neutralised the crime crisis, even if she had to be dragged kicking and screaming to do it.

Opposition Leader Brad Battin had campaigned to fix bail laws on his first day in government.

Allan’s bail changes, which are expected to be backed by the opposition even if they say they don’t go far enough, have neutralised that campaign and potential attack points on the government.

And critically, they have put the ball for addressing the crisis squarely back in the courts.

Originally published as Shannon Deery: Victoria’s judiciary must get on board Jacinta Allan’s bail crackdown