‘Toughest bail laws in Australia’ on track for Victoria

The Liberal-led state opposition has confirmed it will not stand in the way of the Victorian Labor government’s proposed bail reforms.

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan is seen during question time in parliament on Tuesday. Picture: NewsWire / Luis Enrique Ascui.

You can now listen to The Australian's articles. Give us your feedback.

You can now listen to The Australian's articles.

The “toughest bail laws in Australia” are on track to be rolled out in Victoria after the state opposition confirmed it would not stand in the way of the Victorian Labor government’s proposal.

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan introduced the first of her government’s “tough bail bills” into parliament on Tuesday, amid community concern about accused children reoffending while on bail and the state’s rising crime rates.

Immediately upon the bill’s proclamation, the requirement that courts remand accused children only as a last resort will be scrapped and community safety will become the overarching principle for bail decision-making.

Other immediate changes will be the reintroduction of the crime of committing an indictable offence while on bail for an indictable offence, and the introduction of a summary offence for breaching a bail condition for adults, which will both be punishable by a maximum of three months’ imprisonment.

Other proposed amendments, including tougher bail tests for those accused of aggravated burglaries and home invasions, will take effect three months after the bill’s proclamation.

A second bill, to be introduced mid-year, will propose a new bail test for serious repeat offenders and uplift the test for obtaining bail for those accused of the new crime of committing an indictable offence while on bail.

Opposition legal affairs spokesman Michael O’Brien said while the opposition wouldn’t stand in the way of the government’s bill, it would move amendments in the upper house to toughen the consequences for breaching bail conditions and for committing an indictable offence while on bail.

Mr O’Brien said Victoria’s bail laws would still be “weak” because the bill didn’t go far enough, and criticised the government for delaying “super urgent” reforms.

“Only a few of them will have an immediate effect, most are going to be kicked down the road,” he said.

However, Ms Allan said the immediate changes, which she hoped would pass parliament this week, would make a difference.

“It will break this cycle of repeat offending, particularly for youth offending, because we have removed that principle of remand as a last resort,” she said.

Ms Allan said she expected an increase in the state’s prison population to flow from the new laws, and would launch a recruitment campaign for corrections staff to accommodate this.

While the state’s police union welcomed the harsher bail laws, others have raised concerns, with more than 100 people, including from First Nations and human rights groups, gathering in front of parliament on Tuesday evening to protest the proposed reforms.