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This was published 3 months ago
No panacea, but domestic violence bail reforms strike the right balance
In NSW parliament on Tuesday, Premier Chris Minns made a concession: the government’s new bail laws making it harder for men accused of serious domestic violence offences to be released from jail would not fix “bad behaviour”.
There are, he said, “terrible people” in the community who “committed to inflicting terrible violence on their intimate partners”. But he was convinced, he said, that the laws would save lives.
New bail reforms announced on Tuesday have managed to strike the right balanceCredit: Kate Geraghty
In short, you can’t lock up everyone and, even if you did, it wouldn’t fix the problem of men wanting to hurt women. But if you can keep enough violent men off the streets for long enough to help some women, why wouldn’t you?
Politically, it’s a no-brainer. After the death of Forbes woman Molly Ticehurst in an alleged domestic violence murder, the public and media rightfully demanded a response. A scourge that should have been consigned to the dustbin of history feels as though it is getting worse. On Tuesday the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) released new data showing that in March 2024 there were more than 3000 adults in custody for domestic violence offences in NSW. That’s more than at any previous time, and 33.9 per cent more than in March 2019.
But, as with everything, there will be downstream effects. Attorney-General Michael Daley said on Tuesday that bail laws are a balancing act. There are plenty of examples of governments getting that balance wrong with disastrous effect.
After the Bourke Street massacre in 2017, Daniel Andrews’ government in Victoria introduced new laws effectively reversing the onus of bail – that is, the accused had to prove they weren’t a risk to the community to be released – regardless of how serious the alleged offence was.
Annabelle Daniel, CEO of Women’s Community Shelters, Chair of NSW Coercive Control Implementation Taskforce, Yumi Lee, CEO of Older Women’s Network NSW, Christine Robinson, CEO of Wirringa Baiya Aboriginal Women’s Legal Centre and Jess Hill, author of “See What You Made Me Do”, coercive control expert and advocate. speaking during the Domestic and Family Violence Forum at NSW Parliament, Sydney.Credit: Louise Kennerley
Five years later, the laws had led to a near-doubling of the number of Aboriginal women in prison in the state. When Indigenous woman Veronica Nelson died in custody after being refused bail over an alleged shoplifting offence, the Victorian coroner called the laws a “complete, unmitigated disaster”.
They were repealed last year, with the Victorian Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes conceding they had “cast the net too wide”.
NSW has its own shameful present on Indigenous incarceration – the data released by BOCSAR on Tuesday contained another grim record: Aboriginal adults now account for 31 per cent of the prison population in NSW, despite making up only 3.2 per cent of the population, a new high that means we are no longer on track to meet our Closing the Gap targets for incarceration.
Critics will indeed have seen the Minns reforms as another example in the long annals of ‘tough on crime’ governing that have helped exacerbate those sorts of problems. The NSW Council for Civil Liberties president Lydia Shelly said the laws were “a sign of a weak premier beholden to right-wing shock jocks”.
But the government has attempted to find a balance. By limiting the bail reforms to those accused of serious domestic violence, it has directed its response towards stopping the men who are most determined to do harm to their partners. So while these laws will undoubtedly lead to an increase in the prison population, Minns has not followed Victoria’s lead in overreacting to a crisis.
Electronic bracelets may also help when they are eventually introduced (though the government has given no timeframe for it); in 2022, a BOCSAR review of domestic violence offenders who were fitted with the devices on parole showed a 33 per cent reduction in reoffending.
At an event in parliament on Tuesday, Christine Robinson, chief executive of the Wirringa Baiya Aboriginal Women’s Legal Centre, congratulated Minns for taking the time to listen to the sector on reforms.
“It seems like there’s a real emphasis on moving quickly, but also looking at things [and] having a considered approach,” she said.
But, as Minns has acknowledged, bail reforms don’t address the problem at its source. Last week he announced $230 million in funding for domestic violence support and prevention, including for the statewide expansion of the Staying Home Leaving Violence program, which allows women to remain in their homes rather than escaping from violence.
The problems, however, are structural, multifaceted and complex. They require more than a round of pre-budget funding to solve.
Yumi Lee, chief executive of the NSW Older Women’s Network, said of the Staying Home Leaving Violence program: “Guess where some of them move to? Yes, home to their mothers. Do men who are abusive and violent with their partners become angels when they are home with their mothers. I can tell you the answer is absolutely no.”
Lee stressed she was not criticising that program but pointing out that “when you design a policy, you need to think about all the women in that chain”.
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