Andrews government moves to relax laws toughened after Bourke St attack

A move to relax bail laws toughened in the wake of the Bourke St tragedy has won bipartisan support — but it comes with a warning.

The state opposition says it will back sensible changes to Victoria’s bail laws, but has put the government on notice saying community safety must be paramount.

Shadow Attorney-General Michael O’Brien said on Tuesday the opposition was open to sensible changes to bail reform.

It comes as the Herald Sun revealed the Andrews government was considering relaxing bail laws that were toughened in the wake of the 2017 Bourke St tragedy.

“With jails overcrowded and Labor’s court backlogs causing massive delays in matters going to trial, we would consider any sensible reform proposals,” Mr O’Brien said.

“But given the horrific crimes which led to bail laws being tightened – including Bourke St – Labor must not put community safety at risk with any potential changes.”

Gargasoulas on Swanston St before the Bourke St tragedy. Picture: Tony Gough

A government spokesman said bail reform was needed.

“Fundamentally, our bail laws need to protect the community without having a disproportionate or unintended impact on those accused of low-level offending who do not present a risk to community safety,” he said.

“We know that more needs to be done to address the over-representation of Aboriginal Victorians in the justice system – and we’ve implemented a range of reforms to reduce the rate of Aboriginal people on remand and in custody.

“We also have a strong focus on tackling the root causes of offending through early intervention – to prevent crime, reduce reoffending and provide genuine opportunities for Victorians to turn their lives around.”

The state’s Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes insisted the reform would only be put in place to grant bail for less serious offences.

“It’s all about getting the balance right between community safety, ensuring that serious offenders are kept away from the public, but indeed, recognising that some of our most vulnerable people in the community can be caught up unnecessarily in the justice system on remand,” she said.

“We have had examples of low-level offending, shoplifting for example, where perhaps that person is not a risk to community safety, and is there an opportunity to have further discretion to ensure that bail might be more appropriate in those instances.

“It is not about jeopardising community safety, that will remain a focus of any law reform.

“I think that’s certainly something we’re looking at.”

Ms Symes said the reform would also “divert (offenders) away from the criminal justice system”.

“What we do know is that once people are in the justice system, it can be very difficult to get out of that spiral,” she added.

“We’re seeing more women incarcerated, more Aboriginal people incarcerated and people that are on the poverty line, for instance.

“So are there better ways to respond to those people, divert them away from the criminal justice system, provide a better outcome for individuals, but ultimately have a good impact on community safety more broadly?”

James Gargasoulas was on bail when he mowed down and killed six pedestrians in Bourke St.

Changes being considered would make it easier for some low-level offenders to secure bail.

However, the Andrews government is understood to have ruled out any softening of bail laws for people accused of violent crimes.

Instead the reforms would address concerns that the current laws, the most onerous in the country, disproportionately ­affect women, Aboriginals, children, and people living with disability.

The government has ­already approached stakeholders to discuss potential changes. Victoria’s bail laws were tightened in 2018 following a review by former Director of Public Prosecutions and Supreme Court justice Paul Coghlan, KC.

The review was prompted by the Bourke St tragedy in which six people died and dozens were injured after a deadly rampage in his car by 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.

Last year a parliamentary inquiry called for a review of the laws including a simplification of bail tests and addressing the presumptions against granting bail.

It also recommended that bail decision-makers be given the discretion to consider a person’s circumstances when ­deciding whether or not to grant bail.

Nethra Krishnamurthy, who was mowed down by Gargasoulas, said it would be “heartbreaking” if bail laws were relaxed.

Nethra Krishnamurthy, who was mowed down by Gargasoulas, said it would be ‘heartbreaking’ to see bail laws relaxed. Picture: Mark Stewart

Ms Krishnamurthy was walking back to her Bourke St office after visiting her eight-month-old son at a nearby daycare centre when she was hit. She said she often reflected on the fact Gargasoulas was on bail at the time.

“If you ask me for my personal opinion, I wouldn’t want anything to relax,” she said.

“The rules were tightened up because of a major incident like that. If they’re relaxing those laws now … it would be heartbreaking.”

However, Liberty Victoria president Michael Stanton ­described the current laws as “broken”.

“We are concerned that bail laws are increasingly being used as a means of preventive detention in some circumstances where prisoners, even if found to have committed the charged offences, would not receive lengthy sentences of imprisonment,” he said.

Law Institute of Victoria president Tania Wolff also said changes to the bail laws were overdue.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

“The changes in 2018 ­responded to the actions of a violent man in Bourke St but these changes have impacted our community’s most vulnerable people, with a sharp increase in women and Indigenous women now being held in remand,” she said.

“For our community to be safe the Bail Act must be amended to ensure that only those who pose a specific and immediate risk to the physical safety of another person or pose a demonstrable flight risk can be denied bail.”

Victoria Legal Aid acting executive director of criminal law Alice Cashen also backed bail reform.

“Through our practice ­experience we see that the current bail laws are disproportionately causing harm to First Nations people, women, children and young people, and they are in pressing need of ­reform,” she said.

Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service chief executive Nerita Waight said the 2018 changes led to a massive increase in the prison population, which had destroyed families.