By Rachel Eddie
Premier Jacinta Allan has ordered another review of Victoria’s bail laws but was unable to answer basic questions about its scope, as the state opposition and Aboriginal law advocates claimed the government’s latest about-face was a panicked response before this weekend’s Werribee byelection.
She said while everything was on the table, it did not mean she necessarily wanted more alleged offenders remanded without bail.
Premier Jacinta Allan on Tuesday during her press conference on the coming bail review.Credit: AAP
“Crime hurts working people and their families, particularly families that work so hard for what they’ve got … It’s simply unacceptable to me that many Victorians, particularly women and children, aren’t feeling as safe as they should,” she said on Tuesday.
“It’s clear to me that we need to go further.”
But the mother of Veronica Nelson – an Aboriginal woman whose death in custody in 2020 led to changes after the former bail laws were found to disproportionately jail vulnerable people accused of low-level offences – said the review undermined “positive reforms” only achieved through her family’s suffering.
“I lost my daughter due to the harsh and discriminatory bail laws that existed at the time,” Aunty Donna Nelson said on Tuesday. “We created a safer bail system for all Victorians. This decision by government flies in the face of that.”
Figures released last year show incidents of crime were at the highest level since records began in Victoria.Credit: Louise Kennerley
Allan’s announcement comes ahead of Saturday’s twin byelections in Werribee and Prahran, with law and order shaping as a crucial issue for voters. Labor is not contesting Prahran, but is fighting to retain Werribee in a vote triggered by the resignation of former treasurer Tim Pallas.
Statewide Resolve Political Monitor polling for The Age last month showed the government’s primary vote had slumped to an estimated 22 per cent.
Opposition Leader Brad Battin said the latest bail announcement was another backflip.
“The problem with Jacinta Allan is she was only interested in one thing, that’s protecting her own job as we’re coming up to byelections in Werribee and Prahran,” Battin said.
Shadow attorney-general Michael O’Brien said the announcement was “driven by politics and by panic” not community safety.
The Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service (VALS) and Aboriginal Justice Caucus said on Tuesday the Allan government cared more about polling numbers than keeping Aboriginal communities safe.
In a joint statement, they said the decision undermined the government’s commitment to Treaty.
“Using the ‘tough on crime’ rhetoric as a political tool shows nothing but blatant disregard for the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who were, and continue to be, disproportionately affected by discriminatory bail laws,” said VALS chief executive Nerita Waight.
Allan rejected suggestions the review was related to polling woes.
But a Labor source, speaking anonymously to discuss internal party matters, said crime was coming up for MPs doorknocking across the state. While it was an issue in Werribee, there was a consensus that the government needed to take stronger action on crime to respond to statewide concerns, they said.
The source said they were expecting comprehensive bail reform following the review.
In December, the Crime Statistics Agency revealed criminal incidents had reached the highest level since records began in Victoria, though the rate per capita was still lower than in 2020 and 2016.
Domestic violence offences reached an all-time high, up 10.4 per cent in the year to September 2024 to more than 100,000 incidents. Crimes committed by children also hit a 15-year peak, up 16.9 per cent in the year.
Allan would not be drawn on which alleged offenders were being bailed too often, or what specifically wasn’t working, but said that “all laws” would be considered. Alleged perpetrators of violent crimes should already be remanded in custody under existing laws.
“We need to respond to what we’re hearing from the community and act decisively, firmly, strongly to support those working families, to support women and children that don’t feel safe,” Allan said.
The latest iteration of bail reforms came into effect on December 10. Under those changes, the government created a new offence for committing a serious crime while on bail.
Liberty Victoria past president Michael Stanton.
The offence had been abolished a year after a damning coronial inquiry into Nelson’s death in custody found it disproportionately affected vulnerable women without increasing community safety.
The bail test was also strengthened last year to make clear that a person should be remanded if there was an unacceptable risk they could commit aggravated burglary, carjacking, dangerous driving or family violence.
The government had already dumped plans from last year’s broader reform to make it easier for children to get bail. Those changes were to be included in the stand-alone youth justice bill, but the commitment was scrapped entirely last March. The government instead said it would trial ankle bracelets for some youth offenders.
Allan in August also backtracked on a promise to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 14, moving it instead to 12.
Michael Stanton, former president of Liberty Victoria, said the most recent reforms were supposed to stop the laws acting in a “Draconian way, particularly in relation to people accused of relatively low-level offences”.
He said it was widely accepted the former laws had a disproportionate impact on First Nations people, who were vulnerable in custody. Putting young people behind bars also increased the likelihood of them reoffending.
“Whenever you tinker around the edges, it can create unintended consequences,” Stanton said.
Human Rights Law Centre director of First Nations justice Maggie Munn said children belonged in the community, not prisons, and that the government should not be “buckling to fearmongering” to revive “unjust, punitive” bail laws that entrenched disadvantage.
“This is another step backwards and directly contravenes the recommendations from the Yoorrook Justice Commission, the 2022 parliamentary inquiry, and the coronial inquest into Veronica Nelson’s death,” Munn said.
Donna Cooper, the Law Institute of Victoria’s general manager of policy, advocacy and professional standards, said last year’s changes had only just come into effect and others, such as ankle bracelets, were about to come into effect.
“The youth justice laws were developed after five years of justice sector and community consultation,” Cooper said.
“We acknowledge community concerns about crime. However, any review should consider the intended purposes of the new laws, how they are being put into practice and the impact of the changes.”
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