Chief Minister recalls Parlt for emergency session to rush through toughest bail laws in the country
The Chief Minister is reconvening Northern Territory parliament for an emergency session to rush through the nation’s ‘toughest bail laws’. Read the details.
Northern Territory
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Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro will reconvene Northern territory parliament for an emergency session to rush through the “toughest bail laws in the country”.
Ms Finocchiaro made the announcement on Thursday saying: “We will start drafting a new set of laws which will strengthen Declan’s Law.
The new laws follow the death of Nightcliff store owner Linford Feick. Mr Feick was allegedly stabbed by an alleged 18-year-old male offender, who police say was out on bail.
Ms Finocchiaro and Attorney General Marie-Clare Boothby said the draft reforms would be brought to the emergency session of NT parliament next Wednesday.
“We will start drafting a new set of laws which will strengthen Declan’s Law,” Ms Finocchiaro said.
“These laws are modelled on laws in both Victoria and New South Wales which set an overarching primary test for our courts — that is the safety of our community as the number one priority.
“What we want for the Northern Territory is to have the toughest laws in this country.”
The NSW and Victorian bail reforms emphasised maintaining community safety as the overarching principle for bail decision-making, both of which targeted youth offenders.
Ms Finocchiaro said her government’s new laws would include proposed reforms to the Youth Justice Act which would be brought forward from their July date.
Currently bail applications have to consider multiple factors including, if a person would attend their next court dates, any risks to witnesses or evidence, the risk of reoffending, and the interests of the person, including any work or family obligations, how long they are likely to spend on remand and their need to prepare for court.
However under the NSW model, bail must not be granted unless the court has “a high degree of confidence” the young person will not commit a further offence while on bail.
The Chief Minister’s office has confirmed the proposed changes to bail would apply both to adults and children.
In a rare public statement in February the Territory’s Chief Justice Michael Grant highlighted the NSW model resulted in the number of children held behind bars jump by 32 per cent.
On Thursday, Corrections confirmed more than 2817 Territorians were being held in prison, half of whom were on remand and awaiting a sentence.
The Chief Minister has also foreshadowed changes youth bail changes in line with Victoria, which removed the principle of remand as a ‘last resort’.
Criminal Lawyers Association of the Northern Territory spokesman James Stuchbery said bail was a “complex and difficult” consideration, with community safety “already a significant consideration at every stage of the decision-making process”.
“Refusing bail to all accused persons will simply require us to cram more beds into our already overflowing prisons,” Mr Stuchbery said.
“As well as being extraordinarily costly to the taxpayer, this is not a long-term solution or even short-term solution.
“Instead, the focus must be on the causes of crime and allocating resources to allow accused persons to be safely supervised in the community, where rehabilitative work can be done to prevent that person from reoffending. “
Ms Finocchiaro said the strengthened laws were in response to a “crime crisis we have never seen in this proportion before in the Territory”.
Corrections Minister Gerard Maley conceded the new laws would add even more pressure to the stretched justice system.
“We know this will place extreme pressure on our corrections system and remand will go up,” he said.
“We acknowledge that pressure and have today instructed DIPL and Corrections to implement new plans to introduce another 100 beds into corrections centres across the Territory.”
Labor Opposition leader Selena Uibo said the government was being reactive in its approach to violent crime.
“Prevention must be a priority,” Ms Uibo said.
“Territorians deserve to feel safe in their homes, their workplaces, and their communities — and that means stopping violent crime before it happens.
“It’s clear that more must be done to prevent crime, not just react to it.”
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Originally published as Chief Minister recalls Parlt for emergency session to rush through toughest bail laws in the country
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