Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan apologises to victims of crime as tougher bail laws unveiled
The Victorian Premier has apologised for her government’s failure to keep Victorians safe after relaxing bail laws in 2023, as the police union welcomed a tougher new approach.
Victoria
Don't miss out on the headlines from Victoria. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan has apologised to victims of crime, saying she is “deeply sorry” her government’s laws have failed them.
Unveiling what she hailed as the “toughest bail laws in Australia”, the Premier on Wednesday admitted that watering down bail laws in late 2023 had been a mistake.
“I do acknowledge that we got it wrong,” she said.
“The current laws do not reflect community expectations.”
Ms Allan issued an apology to victims of crime who have borne the brunt of rising offending across the state, particularly among youth offenders.
“I’m deeply sorry for the hurt and pain and trauma that victims have experienced in any instance of crime,” she said.
“It has been heartbreaking, not only have I been talking and listening to victims, I read their emails, I read their letters, the distress that has been caused by this repeat pattern of behaviour.”
Ms Allan said the government’s new bail laws would “bring a jolt to the system that should have community safety at the forefront”.
“It’s time that there be respect put back in our system,” she said.
“These are tough changes. These are common-sense changes.”
Attorney-General Sonya Kilkenny said she expected remand rates — the number of people held in custody as they await a court process — to go up in response to the changes.
“No one wants to see kids on remand, but we know there are young offenders and other offenders out there who are committing the very worst types of crime that is driving community fear,” she said.
“These laws are targeted squarely at the risks of young people committing serious crimes while out on bail.”
‘Kneejerk policy from a panicking Premier’
The opposition stopped short of committing to rushing the legislation through parliament next week, instead vowing to consider the changes with the intention of moving amendments.
Shadow Attorney-General Michael O’Brien said it appeared the proposed changes wouldn’t be stronger than 2023 laws.
Under the government’s new reforms, a plan to reintroduce a separate crime of breaching bail conditions would only become a summary offence rather than the more serious indictable offence.
“Already these laws will be weaker than the laws Victoria had in 2023,” Mr O’Brien said.
“The government is simply backflipping on some of the more stupid changes they made to bail in 2023. Of course we welcome aspects of backtracking but it doesn’t go far enough.”
With parliament resuming on Tuesday, the opposition is hoping to receive draft legislation in advance so MPs can properly scrutinise the proposal.
“We will have a very good look at this because we know the Premier got it wrong last time she introduced bail laws,” Mr O’Brien added.
“Who can take her on trust to get it right this time?”
Opposition police spokesman David Southwick said the state government couldn’t be trusted to fix crime.
“Jacinta Allan has let the genie out of the bottle and it’s very hard to put it back in,” he said.
Victorian Greens justice spokeswoman Katherine Copsey said the “kneejerk” bail changes repeat past mistakes and are at odds with evidence.
“Making it easier to put children in prison doesn’t improve community safety, it actually significantly increases the chance of a young person reoffending and results in First Nations children being disproportionately incarcerated,” she said.
“What we need is evidence-based, long-term solutions like early intervention and preventative measures, that get to the root case of the problem and support children, not just kneejerk policy on the run from a panicking Premier.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he wasn’t consulted on the bail reform but called it a “very sensible decision”.“Nationally ... bail has been an issue and it seems to me that the Premier is responding appropriately to community concern,” Mr Albanese told 3AW.
Police union backs bail laws crackdown
Victoria’s powerful police union has welcomed the overhaul, saying it will make the state safer.
Police Association of Victoria secretary Wayne Gatt on Wednesday said a shake-up of Victoria’s bail system — to be unveiled on Wednesday — would swing the pendulum back towards community safety and victims of crime and away from the rights of offenders.
“Once legislated, these changes will make a difference, one that will swing the pendulum back in the favour of good, innocent people and families who deserve protection and the right to safety in their homes, their cars and on their streets,” Mr Gatt said.
“We hope now that these reforms pass parliament quickly and complement the work our members do in catching offenders and taking them off the streets in the first instance.
“The onus will soon be back on the courts to act in the interests and preservation of community safety, and not in defiance to it.”
Legal sector ‘deeply disappointed’
The Federation of Community Legal Centres CEO Louisa Gibbs called on the government to urgently rethink its changes.
“The community legal sector is deeply disappointed and disheartened by the Victorian government’s decision to ignore the evidence and reinstate bail changes that have proven ineffective in the past,” she said.
“The reality is that keeping people incarcerated, particularly on remand, without rehabilitation or access to social services, does not make our communities safer. It sets up a cycle of recidivism that costs taxpayers millions of dollars annually.”
Bail shake-up to put community safety ‘above all’
The Allan government’s move to overhaul bail laws comes after the Herald Sun shone a spotlight on the state’s crime crisis — particularly home invasions committed by teens — through its Suburbs Under Siege campaign.
The backdown by the Premier on bail laws also comes less than 18 months after the state Labor government relaxed laws to make it easier for courts to grant bail.
Under the incoming changes, courts would be mandated to remand repeat offenders and apply tougher tests that would put community safety above any other consideration.
A provision that mandates that courts hold youth offenders in custody only as a “last resort” will be scrapped, and anyone accused of an indictable offence (more serious offences) will face “tests” to get bail.
This includes tougher bail tests for home invasions and carjackings, even when no weapons are involved, while machetes will be outlawed.
Repeat offenders of the worst crimes will be targeted, with bail denied to anyone accused of committing a serious offence if they are already on bail for a similarly serious offence, unless a court believes there is a “high degree of probability” they will not reoffend.
‘Result in death’: Push back against bail reform
Former Liberty Victoria president Michael Stanton warned the changes “will result in deaths in custody”.
“The duplicity of this government fronting Yoorrook (Justice Commission) and now desperately introducing these draconian bail reforms is just breathtaking,” he wrote on X
“It’s a disgrace.”
The duplicity of this Government fronting Yoorrook and now desperately introducing these draconian bail reforms is just breathtaking. Including removing the principle of detention being a last resort for children? This will result in deaths in custody. It’s a disgrace. #springst
— Mike Stanton (@mdstanton) March 11, 2025
Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service CEO Nerita Waight said the Allan government had chosen to increase the profit margins of prison instead of addressing the drivers of offending.
“This government doesn’t learn from their mistakes, rather they go out of their way to repeat them,” she said.
“You start to wonder, after failed policy after failed policy: is it really a mistake, or rather an active decision, to pursue the colonial agenda, to lock our people up, to hold those at the mercy of the system responsible for their own failures to invest in adequate diversion and alternative pathways.”
‘Toolbox’ of sex toys: Melbourne salesman admits to abuse of five children
A registered sex offender who had abused children in Canada has admitted to sexually abusing five children across Melbourne’s bayside suburbs.
Former elite school rowing coach probed over lewd remarks
Former head of rowing at Melbourne’s Carey Grammar, Richard ‘Dick’ Bartlett, has been investigated over claims he made sexual remarks to students he coached, with references to hookers.