‘Community safety above all’: Herald Sun Suburbs Under Siege campaign leads to Allan action
Victorians — including children — committing the worst crimes will be jailed after a single, further serious offence while those charged with home invasions will face tougher bail tests in changes designed to “jolt the system” and put public safety first.
Police & Courts
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The “toughest bail laws in the country” are set to be rushed through parliament with courts ordered to put community safety at the forefront of all decisions.
Offenders committing the worst crimes – including children – will be locked up after a single further serious offence in a bid to crack down on recidivists, while those charged with home invasions and other serious crimes will face harsher bail tests.
The Allan government will on Wednesday unveil the comprehensive overhaul of Victoria’s bail system, less than 18 months after it relaxed laws making it easier for courts to grant bail.
It comes after the Herald Sun’s Suburbs Under Siege campaign highlighting bail failures fuelling the state’s worsening crime scourge.
The crisis has threatened stability within the government amid competing views about how to curb the violent offending spike that existing laws have been blamed for.
Cabinet met on Tuesday to sign off on new laws which will go to parliament next week with expectations they could be passed as soon as next month.
Under the 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 courts to remand youth offenders only as a “last resort” would also be scrapped.
“Our tough bail laws will jolt the system – putting community safety above all, creating the toughest bail laws ever, and ensuring bail rules are respected,” Premier Jacinta Allan said.
The government said the laws would also target repeat offenders by creating a new bail test that prohibited bail being granted to someone accused of committing a serious offence if they were already on bail for a similarly serious offence, unless they could prove there was a “high degree of probability” they would not reoffend.
Tougher bail tests will also be introduced for crimes including home invasions and carjackings, even when no weapons are involved, while machetes will be outlawed.
The offence of committing an indictable offence while on bail will also be reintroduced.
That offence was scrapped in 2023 under a relaxing of the state’s bail laws promised by Daniel Andrews and implemented by Ms Allan shortly after she took over as Premier.
The changes made it easier for some offenders to secure bail and saw an explosion of repeat youth offending.
They were intended to address concerns the laws – then the most onerous in the country – disproportionately affected women, Aboriginals, children and disabled people.
However, they have since been exploited by repeated offenders to stay out of jail.
They include a 14-year-old accused of a three-day crime spree who was bailed for the 50th time, leaving victims baffled. Another teen, allegedly involved in the shocking attack on 15-year-old schoolboy Benjamin Phikhohpoom, was subsequently bailed eight times before being involved in an attack on police.
And a teen who allegedly killed Ashburton man William Taylor was freed on bail despite going missing within 48 hours of his first release.
Under changes introduced last year, bail laws were toughened to require magistrates and judges to refuse bail where there was an unacceptable risk a person would commit a serious crime.
While police data showed the number of people on bail had fallen following the changes, Ms Allan conceded they didn’t go far enough.
She said the current system failed to properly reflect the expectations of victims or the public.
Victim of Crime Commissioner Elizabeth Langdon said the perspective of victims needed to be a key component of changes to Victoria’s bail laws. “Any changes to bail laws should provide an opportunity to better embed the views of victims of crime in bail decisions,” she said.
On Tuesday, Shadow Attorney-General Michael O’Brien accused the Allan government of dragging its heels on delivering overdue bail changes.
“Every single day Premier Allan dithers over bail laws is another day that Victorian safety is put at risk,” he said.
“There is no reason to delay other than the ego and arrogance of the government.”
Before being wound back in 2023, Victoria’s bail laws had been tightened in 2018, following the Bourke St tragedy in which six people died and dozens were injured after a deadly rampage by killer driver James Gargasoulas.
Gargasoulas had a criminal history and had been on bail but went largely unchecked in the days before the incident, on January 20, 2017.
What the Bail Bill includes
* Magistrates and judges will have to put community safety first in bail decision-making for offenders of all ages.
* Currently, an accused youth offender is remanded (detained in custody) only as a ‘last resort’. The new laws will remove the principle of remand as a last resort.
* Anyone accused of an indictable offence (more serious offences) will face ‘tests’ to get bail. The tests will get tougher as the offences get worse. Someone accused of a Schedule 2 offence like manslaughter must show ‘compelling reasons’ to justify bail. Someone accused of a Schedule 1 offence like murder or aggravated carjacking must prove ‘exceptional circumstances’. Tougher bail tests will also apply for other offences including serious gun, knife and arson offences, machete violence, non-aggravated home invasion and carjacking.
* 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. This test will apply to those charged with murder, aggravated home invasion, burglary and carjacking.
* The offence of ‘committing an indictable offence while on bail’ will be introduced as a Schedule 2 offence, creating a second-strike rule. If you commit a second indictable offence while already on bail for an indictable offence, there are consequences – you will face the tough test of proving ‘compelling reasons’ for bail, like you would for a more serious crime.
* It will also become a summary offence to breach bail conditions – such as failing to report or meet curfew. This can be considered by bail decision-makers as a reason to refuse bail.
The government’s other measures to combat the crime crisis will include:
* Machetes will be declared prohibited weapons in Victoria, with more details provided in coming days.
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