Allan passes new bail laws, but with one slight change
The Allan government’s new bail laws have passed parliament but Victorians still face a wait for the tougher laws to come into effect.
Victoria
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Victorian judges and magistrates have been ordered to put community safety first and beef up sentences for repeat offenders who break bail after parliament gave brand new laws the green light.
Under pressure to wrangle record youth crime, the Allan government passed urgent laws with the backing of the opposition during a marathon sitting that lasted into the early hours of Friday morning.
Premier Jacinta Allan said she expected bail decision-makers to remand more offenders as she sent the state’s violent criminals, including teen thugs, a stern message.
“Clean your act up or face the consequences,” she said.
But while Ms Allan claimed the laws were urgent, Victorian Governor Margaret Gardner was yet to enshrine the bill in law — known as giving royal assent — on Friday night.
The delay means the reforms the government labelled “immediate” have not yet come into effect.
They include the reintroduction of “committing an indictable offence while on bail”.
Another offence of “breaching bail conditions” will also come into play.
Both offences will add an extra three months imprisonment to any other sentence imposed for any crime committed.
If someone is arrested for breach of bail, police officers will be able to bring that person to court directly, instead of waiting for a bail justice.
Community safety will also become the overarching principle for bail decision-making and remand will no longer be considered a last resort for a child.
MPs debated Labor’s controversially dubbed “Tough Bail Bill” well into the night on Thursday, as the opposition sought to further beef-up the legislation while much of the progressive crossbench worked to water it down.
The bill passed both houses just before 12.30am after the marathon sitting.
However, Labor was left red-faced after having to strip the word “tough” from its name after several crossbench MPs united with the Coalition to pass the amendment.
The bill is now the Bail Amendment Bill.
Premier Jacinta Allan had lashed the objection to the word tough on Thursday, accusing the opposition of “playing political games”.
But deputy Liberal leader in the upper house Evan Mulholland said the Bill was “not tough enough” to live up to its name.
“Is the next one going to be called the Tougher Bail Bill,” Mr Mulholland quipped during debate.
“This is a disgrace … political sloganeering should not be in the bill.”
In a rare show of support for the Coalition, Greens MP Katherine Copsey accused Ms Allan of trying to save “her political scalp” by naming it the Tough Bail Bill.
On Thursday, Victoria Police and victims of the state’s crime crisis had pleaded with both sides of politics to put their egos aside and begin enforcing new bail and machete laws immediately.
Under Labor’s rollout, however, bail changes and a statewide machete ban will be etched into law over the next six months.
Immediate changes included in the bill include reintroducing “committing an indictable offence while on bail” and another offence of “breaching bail conditions”.
Both offences will add an extra three months imprisonment to any other sentence imposed for any crime committed.
If someone is arrested for breach of bail, police officers will be able to bring that person to court directly, instead of waiting for a bail justice.
Community safety will also become the overarching principle for bail decision-making and remand will no longer be considered a last resort for a child.
Despite Ms Allan vowing to introduce the legislation as a matter of urgency, tougher bail tests for serious offences including aggravated burglary, home invasions and knife crime will not come into play for at least three months.
The delay will give the government time gear up prisons and recruit more staff ahead of an expected influx of offenders.
A second phase, to be debated later this year, will further strengthen bail laws, with the introduction of the “second strike” rule for repeat offenders and what Labor has hailed as the “toughest test ever”, which will force offenders to prove “compelling reasons” for bail.
However, the legislation is yet to be finalised and requires further community consultations.
In a statement early on Friday, Ms Allan reiterated that the laws would be the “toughest bail laws in the country”.
“These laws send the strongest possible message to offenders – clean your act up or face the consequences,” she said.
The opposition, some crossbench MPs and victims of crime called for the full suite of changes to be brought forward on Thursday, wanting all of the reforms in play by June 30.
The call came as the Allan government was on Thursday slammed over shameful new figures which revealed youth and overall crime are both at all-time highs.
The shocking crime statistics for 2024 indicated a group of 20 of the “worst” youth offenders were responsible for 302 aggravated burglaries in which a car was stolen over the past year.
Home invasions, car theft, retail crime and family violence incidents all reached record highs.
There were 7464 home break-ins last year.
Police laid the blame for that increase on a hardcore group of teens aged 14-17.
Crimes by children under 18 rose to their highest levels since 1993, when records were first kept. Those children, aged 10 to 17, committed at least 16 per cent more crimes than the previous year. Their total number of offences was 24,500.
Senior minister Mary-Anne Thomas denied that it was embarrassing to have to strip the word “tough” from the title of the bill, and said that it was an example of “pedantry” by the opposition.
“A lot of time was spent on what the name of the bill should be. That was seen to be the key concern of the opposition,” she said.
“So frankly, we all could have gone home a little bit earlier.”
Ms Thomas also said that despite a delay in rolling out some parts of the legislation, Victorians would benefit immediately from the changes made overnight, such as putting community safety at the forefront of bail decisions.
“We’ve always been clear, though, that there is more work to do, and that is why a further bill will be presented to the house in the middle of this year.”
Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Bob Hill called the overall crime rate in Victoria “totally unacceptable.”
Mr Hill said the release of the disturbing data had to be a “line in the sand” moment.
Home invasion victim Adele Andrews, whose family suffered a terrifying home invasion in Black Rock this month, urged both major parties to take their “egos out of it” and ensure the laws were enforced as a matter of urgency.
“Roll it out with a thud,” she said.
Ms Allan was forced to urgently strengthen laws as community outrage soared, highlighted by the Herald Sun’s Suburbs Under Siege campaign.
Opposition police spokesman David Southwick said the current staged rollout would only lead to an even “bigger crime crisis” in six months.
“This government will allow machetes to still be in play for another six months,” he said.
“Our bail laws won’t come in play for another six months.
“The prediction I’ll give you is we’ll be back here in six months with a bigger crime crisis.”
Originally published as Allan passes new bail laws, but with one slight change
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