By Chris Vedelago, Rachel Eddie and Hannah Hammoud
A bail service that spruiked state-of-the-art technology capable of tracking some of Victoria’s most dangerous criminals had its headquarters at a door-handle factory in Melbourne’s south-east.
The warning signs that BailSafe might not be the professional operation it claimed came just a year after it began operations — moving, on paper at least, its head office from Hawthorn to a warehouse and showroom on an industrial estate.
Victorian Attorney-General Sonya Kilkenny has vowed to end the use of private bail providers.Credit: Jason South
That BailSafe was working out of the same premises as an importer of fine Italian door fixtures came as a surprise to that company when The Age visited on Thursday as part of a bid to track down the service that was responsible for monitoring potentially dangerous offenders on bail until it secretly shut down last week.
“We’ve been here five years,” an employee of the importer said. “We do door handles,” another said.
The collapse of BailSafe has left the justice system in two states reeling. Law enforcement authorities are scrambling to track down eight accused criminals in Victoria and 20 in NSW who were supposedly being monitored 24 hours a day by GPS tracking devices.
Victorian Attorney-General Sonya Kilkenny admitted late on Thursday afternoon that it was not appropriate for private companies to be offering these services and promised to ban the practice.
An electronic ankle bracelet. Credit: iStock
There was no sign of BailSafe’s owner, Jackson Oppy, or the infrastructure for a high-tech GPS monitoring program and drug and alcohol referral service that BailSafe had been promoting to the courts since it started in mid-2022.
BailSafe has apparently never operated from the industrial site listed as its “principle place of business” on documents lodged with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission – one in a series of significant signs of trouble in the growing but unregulated for-profit bail services sector.
BailSafe was also nowhere to be found at a second listed address in the heart of Victoria’s legal district. The company’s mail goes to a post office box, according to company records.
Finding Oppy himself has also been a major headache for authorities as they attempt to track down his “clients” – alleged drug traffickers, gang members and money launderers – who have paid thousands of dollars to be enrolled in a specialised program designed to keep them out of jail while they await trial.
Authorities were still unable to locate Oppy on Thursday. He also did not answer the door at his home in Melbourne’s west.
In the 24 hours since The Age revealed that BailSafe had collapsed and left an unknown number of accused criminals unmonitored, Victoria Police and the Office of Public Prosecutions have been furiously sifting through files to identify those released by magistrates and judges to the BailSafe program.
“We have since determined that this closure has an impact on eight current matters,” a police spokeswoman said.
“These matters are being individually assessed to determine the most appropriate course of action, including any immediate compliance checks that are required.”
Two sources familiar with the operation but not authorised to speak publicly said all eight accused criminals on bail would have their locations checked and be returned to court as soon as possible.
“Applications will be made to the court to vary or revoke the bail of accused persons who are subject to BailSafe conditions,” a spokesperson for the OPP said.
Kilkenny said bail could be revoked.
However, it remained to be determined whether any of the eight had breached the conditions of their court-mandated release in the at least week-long period since BailSafe is believed to have stopped operating.
In NSW, when the news broke that BailSafe had collapsed, the state government set up a review into the operation of private or for-profit bail service providers.
The Victorian government said the use of private bail providers was “not appropriate whatsoever.”
“I am going to do something about that,” Kilkenny said. “We are going to put a stop to the use of these companies.”
Asked how the providers had been allowed to operate without oversight, she said: “I am acting now.”
Kilkenny admitted the government was not sure how many private operators were providing bail services. She did not give a deadline for ending the practice but said that doing so was a priority.
Kilkenny could not confirm whether all eight alleged offenders had been physically located, but said Victoria Police checks may include door knocking.
Earlier, shadow attorney-general Michael O’Brien said the BailSafe collapse was “another Labor bail fail” and described the unregulated sector as the Wild West. He said it was concerning that wealthier alleged offenders appeared to be in effect buying bail.
There is no accreditation or regulation of private bail services in Victoria, with at least two, including BailSafe, having had their operators charged with serious crimes since mid-2024.
In July, Oppy was charged with drug possession and then later with breaching a personal safety intervention order (those charges remain before the courts), but his business inside the courts was allowed to continue uninterrupted.
Nearly two years ago a Supreme Court judge expressed concerns about BailSafe’s operation.
In July 2023, the Supreme Court of Victoria heard a bail application for an alleged offender accused of firing a 12-gauge shotgun into a car window as part of an armed robbery. The applicant hoped to be released under the supervision of BailSafe.
“A difficulty is that Mr Oppy does not appear to me to have the requisite qualifications to diagnose a severe substance disorder and there is no properly qualified medical professional to make these assessments,” Justice Lex Lasry found.
“The arrangements to be made by BailSafe are almost entirely online.”
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