Poccum's Law: A blueprint to fix Victoria's discriminatory bail laws
NEWS UPDATE | Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Peoples' Rights
Victoria has some of Australia’s most dangerous and discriminatory bail laws. Several years ago, the Andrews Government made knee-jerk changes to bail laws in response to the violent actions of one man. These laws place the onus on a person to prove why they should be on bail, rather than requiring the police to explain why someone should be locked up until their hearing.
This has led to a massive increase in the number of people in prison for offences that they haven’t even been found guilty of. Right now, a staggering 41.9% of people in prison are waiting for a court hearing or trial.
These laws are disproportionately impacting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and women experiencing disadvantage. Women are unnecessarily losing their jobs, their homes and their children, instead of receiving the support they need in the community.
These unfair laws needlessly pushed proud Gunditjmara, Dja Dja Wurrung, Wiradjuri and Yorta Yorta woman Veronica Nelson into prison for minor shoplifting related charges. She passed away, locked up in a prison cell where she didn’t belong. In the inquest into Veronica’s passing, the coroner found that the state’s bail laws are an “unmitigated disaster” which discriminate against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and are incompatible with Victoria’s Charter of Human Rights.
Veronica’s loved ones have called for urgent changes with a clear blueprint for fairer bail laws. They have asked that these reforms are referred to as Poccum’s Law. Poccum is the nickname Veronica’s family gave her as a child. We stand with Veronica’s family and the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service in their fight for #PoccumsLaw.
The blueprint calls for these critcal reforms to the bail laws:
1. Remove the presumption against bail.
2. Grant access to bail unless the prosecution shows that there is a specific and immediate risk to the safety of another person; a serious risk of interfering with a witness; or a demonstrable risk that the person will flee the jurisdiction.
3. Explicitly require that a person must not be remanded for an offence that is unlikely to result in a sentence of imprisonment.
4. Remove all bail offences (committing an indictable offence while on bail, breaching bail conditions and failure to answer bail).
The Human Rights Law Centre is advocating for the Victorian Government to implement these reforms in full. We won’t stop pushing until Victoria’s bail laws are fair, so that what happened to Veronica never happens again.
You can find sign the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service’s petition calling for an end to these descriminatory laws here.