Publication background: The following opinion piece was published in The Age - a moderate to
progressive daily newspaper in Melbourne.
Having driven into a dead end on bail, the government
is now desperately in reverse
By John Silvester
March 12, 2025 — 11.47am
The road to good intentions is littered with land mines, and a perfect example is the state’s bail
laws.
Premier Jacinta Allan announced on Wednesday the latest changes she says will make Victoria’s
bail laws the toughest in the country.
They may well be the toughest, but are they the best? Make no mistake – this is a political solution
to a justice problem as the government knows it is haemorrhaging votes on law and order.
Attorney-General Sonya Kilkenny and Police Minister Anthony Carbines were last month tasked
with conducting a review. In three weeks, two elected politicians have apparently been able to come
up with the Magna Carta on bail – a problem that has festered for years.
After a marathon cabinet meeting, it will now be rushed into parliament and turned into law. The
premier says she has listened to the concerns of the public.
The rst unintended consequence of relaxing bail laws in the rst place came from a noble intent.
Victoria’s Indigenous population is wickedly over-represented in our prison population and several
reports have recommended the need for reform due to deaths in custody.
The logic goes like this: low-level (but serial) Indigenous offenders were being locked up for
breaching bail conditions when their actual criminal actions were unlikely to ever draw a custodial
sentence.
But by lowering the bail bar
for 1 per cent of the
population, it meant gangs of
young serial home invaders
were released after being
charged multiple times.
A typical headline about the Victorian justice system.
Instead, the government
removed the offence of committing crime while on bail, with disastrous consequences. They are
now bringing it back, but not before hundreds of families have had their houses invaded by repeat
offenders.
While the changes to bail laws may be well intentioned, they miss the point.
There are four pillars of justice: an accused can only be convicted when the evidence proves the
case beyond reasonable doubt; justice delayed is justice denied; the punishment should deter others;
and a prisoner should be offered avenues to reform.
A Ticking Mind Resource
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Delays in getting cases to trial is one of the root causes of the bail problem, and there is no stomach
for meaningful reform.
Now that Allan has bitten the bullet on bail, the government has a massive chance to produce a
model in juvenile justice that will be the template to rebuilding the criminal justice system.
The cases these kids are involved in are open and shut – offenders caught in stolen cars, DNA and
CCTV footage available.
Remand the suspects in custody, but don’t let them rot there for a year waiting for a trial. Triage the
most important cases as hospital emergency rooms do as a matter of course. As it stands, the court
system is an overly ambitious snake trying to swallow a water buffalo.
Offer incentives to plead guilty or have the trial heard within eight weeks. When they are convicted,
offer offenders incentives to reform, and offer employers tax breaks to give ex-inmates a chance.
Now that’s real reform. And that is why it won’t happen.
From: https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/having-driven-into-a-dead-end-on-bail-the-
government-is-now-desperately-in-reverse-20250312-p5liwq.html
A Ticking Mind Resource
