Bail saves lives, but Allan Government’s proposed bail laws repeat past failures
The Allan Government has proposed reviving the worst of dangerous and discriminatory bail laws which will harm Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and generations of Victorian children by keeping people needlessly locked away in pre-trial detention.
The proposed changes are contrary to reforms which came into effect in after the tragic and preventable death in custody of strong Gunditjmara, Dja Dja Wurrung, Wiradjuri and Yorta Yorta woman Veronica Nelson, and a subsequent coronial finding that Victoria’s bail laws were a “‘complete and unmitigated disaster” disproportionately impacting First Nations people, women and children.
Victoria’s bail laws are already incompatible with the state’s Charter of Human Rights, yet the Allan Government has buckled to fear-mongering rhetoric in the media and is proposing to go even further by:
treating children like adults by scrapping detention as a last resort, contrary to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child;
subjecting children and adults to harsher bail tests for a vast range of offences and introducing a new, reverse onus bail test to make it even harder to access bail; and
bringing back bail offences which would punish people who cannot meet strict bail conditions like curfew for reasons of disadvantage.
Granting bail saves lives, and the Allan Government should remove presumptions against bail and implement Poccum’s Law in full – developed by the family of Veronica Nelson and endorsed by over 70 community, human rights and legal organisations.
Rather than continuing to invest in prisons and repeating the mistakes of the past, the Allan Government must invest in housing, community-based supports and alternative pathways that address the unmet needs that are causing contact with the criminal legal system in the first place.
Quotes attributable to Maggie Munn, First Nations Justice Director at the Human Rights Law Centre:
“Granting bail save lives, but the Allan Government has today announced some of the most dangerous, discriminatory and unjust bail laws in the country.
“It is really concerning that Allan Government’s proposed changes to bail laws fly in the face of findings from past coronial inquests into Aboriginal deaths in custody, as well as countless recommendations, reports and minimum standards at a national and international level.
“The Allan Government has refused to learn from past policy failures and is instead hellbent on reviving and entrenching harmful bail laws that have led to high numbers of Aboriginal people in custody.
“Victoria’s already broken bail laws have ripped apart families and communities, and instead of fixing them, the Allan Government is doubling down on laws that will put even more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people behind bars.
“These laws would reject detention as a measure of last resort and condemn generations of children and adults to the damage and trauma of pre-trial detention.
“Funnelling people into prisons to be warehoused on remand without being convicted or sentenced does not keep communities safe. Instead, it creates a vicious cycle of disadvantage that traps people – particularly young children – in the quicksand of the criminal legal system.
“With Victoria’s courts already facing severe backlogs, these laws will not only lead to more overcrowded prisons but will also exacerbate the risk of human rights abuses and deaths in custody.
“These laws are part of a disturbing trend across the country towards regressive and punitive policies that are driving up the number of unsentenced people in prison.
“Instead of ramming through dangerous and discriminatory laws, the Allan Government should implement Poccum’s Law in full to make Victoria’s bail laws safer and fairer for everyone.”
Media contact:
Chandi Bates
Media and Communications Manager
Human Rights Law Centre
0430 277 254
chandi.bates@hrlc.org.au