The Human Rights Law Centre has slammed the Allan Government for passing laws that will put more First Nations people behind bars, harm families and communities, and condemn more people to the damage and trauma of police and prison cells.  

The Allan Government’s second tranche of bail laws, which passed Parliament this morning: 

• introduce a high degree of probability test, which sets an exceptionally high hurdle for bail, weaponising people’s vulnerabilities by reducing their relevance to reoffending risk instead of recognising them as reasons to grant bail;  

• introduce a two-step test for denying bail, which captures non-violent and poverty-related offences like theft; and 

• undermine people’s fundamental rights to liberty, presumed innocence and equality under Victoria’s Charter of Human Rights and ignore the human rights impacts of subjecting people to degrading conditions in overcrowded prisons and police cells. 

The Allan Government’s first tranche of bail laws, passed earlier this year, is already having devastating consequences, with severe overcrowding in Victoria’s prisons leading to rolling lockdowns and data indicating that denial of bail is now more likely than not for First Nations adults. 

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. 

Maggie Munn, First Nations Justice Director at the Human Rights Law Centre said:  

“Bail saves lives, but the Allan Government has today passed some of the some of the most dangerous, discriminatory and unjust bail laws in the country. 

“The Allan Government has shamefully turned its back on reforms that came into effect after the tragic and preventable death in custody of Veronica Nelson, a proud Gunditjmara, Dja Dja Wurrung, Wiradjuri and Yorta Yorta woman.  

“The Allan Government cannot claim to support Treaty and truth-telling while entrenching the mass incarceration of First Nations people.

“These laws are a disaster waiting to happen, and are part of a disturbing trend across the country towards regressive policies that are putting more First Nations people behind bars and driving up the number of untried and unsentenced people in prison. 

“With Victoria’s courts already facing severe backlogs and prisons already at breaking point, these laws will exacerbate the risk of human rights abuses and deaths in custody. 

“Instead of dangerous and discriminatory laws, the Allan Government should be implementing Poccum’s Law to make Victoria’s bail laws safer and fairer for everyone, and investing in community-based and self-determined supports that address why people come into contact with criminal legal system in the first place.”