‘Toughest bail laws in country’ to target worst offenders, Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan crackdown vow

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan has promised to take her government’s bail reforms to the next level, but the opposition is crying ‘loophole’.

Ryan Bourke

Victorian Police Minister Anthony Carbines, left, Premier Jacinta Allan and Attorney-General Sonya Kilkenny announce tougher bail laws on Tuesday. Picture: NewsWire / David Crosling

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9 hours ago

Accused offenders charged with extra serious offences including carjacking, home invasion, burglary and armed robbery while on bail will find it harder to secure their freedom under new Victorian laws.

In another law and order crackdown announced by Premier Jacinta Allan on Tuesday, the Bail Further Amendment Bill will implement a tougher bail test for repeat offenders, with a new “second strike rule” on the way to target those who offend while on bail for previous offences.

Ms Allan unveiled the new laws as she conceded more needed to be done to tackle the state’s crime crisis. The new test regime will apply to those committing a list of six serious offences including carjacking, home invasion, burglary and armed robbery.

The changes will build on existing reforms to bail legislated in March, which Ms Allan says have already had a drastic impact on community safety. “Victoria already has the toughest available in the country, and today we introduce legislation that will make it even stronger,” she said.

Police Minister Anthony Carbines said the reforms were a direct response to continued challenges faced by police in dealing with the type of offences listed.

“This responds to Operation Trinity, where Victoria Police has made some 1200 arrests, many of those people arrested time and again for committing harm in the community, serious harm through aggravated burglaries, home invasions, and armed robberies,” he said.

Asked if the expected increase in offenders held on remand risked overwhelming the state’s corrections system, Attorney-General Sonya Kilkenny said the government had worked with the Minister for Corrections on modelling that showed “our system will have capacity”.

Ms Kilkenny was unable to confirm when the state would have enough capacity in its prisons to take on the boost in remanded offenders. Picture: NewsWire / David Crosling

She was unable to confirm when that capacity would be available.

“There’s a default commencement date in the bill and we will be working very hard to get that measure implemented as soon as system capacity permits and it is safe to do so,” she said.

The push to increase capacity was first flagged in this year’s state budget, when the Allan government committed to a $700m upgrade to the state’s prison network in anticipation of an expected surge in demand.

Ms Kilkenny also insisted the new bill had built-in protections to prevent vulnerable people from being targeted unfairly, adding that it excluded “some of the lower-level things like low-level drug possession, petty theft, and crimes … driven by homelessness or other forms of disadvantage”.

Ms Allan called upon the opposition to support the bill even though they opposed the first stage of reforms earlier this year.

“If others want to play politics with this to slow it down, that’s a matter for them,” she said.

“We’re acting with urgency.”

On Tuesday, legal affairs spokesman Michael O’Brien said the changes “won’t fix the problem that Labor created”.

Opposition legal affairs spokesman Michael O’Brien says the ‘carve outs’ built into the bill will act as a loophole. Picture: NewsWire / David Geraghty

Taking aim at the “carve-out” of more than 100 minor offences that Labor said could unfairly target disadvantaged people, Mr O’Brien described the changes as “still some of the weakest bail laws in the country”.

“Young offenders are still going to be able to breach their conditions of bail and face no real consequences,” Mr O’Brien said.