Bail laws
Samantha RATNAM (Northern Metropolitan) (13:23): (10) My question today is for the Attorney-General. This Parliament resumes today fresh in the wake of the coroner’s findings into the death of Veronica Nelson, a death that we now know without a doubt was utterly preventable and caused by, in the words of the coroner, the ‘complete and unmitigated disaster’ of Victoria’s bail laws. Your government insists that changes to bail laws are not ready and cannot be rushed, but by 2019 you were aware that the government’s laws had led to the highest levels of Aboriginal incarceration and imprisonment of women in Victoria’s recorded history. The government was also aware the majority of these people were unsentenced and charged with relatively minor offences, yet still you sat back and did nothing for almost the entire last term of government. Attorney, given the speed with which the government introduced changes to bail in 2017, why is the government not in a position today to act on bail law reform to finally end the years of damage it is causing First Nations women on remand?
Jaclyn SYMES (Northern Victoria – Attorney-General, Minister for Emergency Services) (13:24): I thank Dr Ratnam for her question and at the outset acknowledge the devastating incidents that led to the death of Veronica Nelson. We have a coroner’s report which has a number of findings that cross a range of issues in the justice system, and we will take the time to carefully consider those recommendations.
It is not the coroner’s findings that have motivated the government to act on bail reform; this is a piece of work that I have been embarking on for some time now. And although it is easy to oversimplify legislative reform, particularly in the justice space, as regularly happens, it is incumbent upon me – in fact it is a responsibility and an obligation of mine – to get this right, and that includes talking to a range of stakeholders, including people in the chamber and in the Parliament. The Shadow Attorney-General is interested in working with the government on these reforms, and I certainly welcome that exchange. There are a range of stakeholders that we want to talk to in relation to that.
But to suggest that we have done nothing in relation to these issues again is a fairly simplistic way to put these things. What you want to do is make sure that people are not in a situation where they are even talking about bail. We want to divert people from the justice system. We want to have programs in place where people have got other options that deal with the underlying causes of crime, whether that is assisting in homelessness, and we have our Big Build project assisting people to gain employment, we have our free TAFE programs and we have a range of specific programs, as you have identified, to target Aboriginal women, because we know that this is a cohort that is appearing too regularly in our justice system.
Bail laws are of course something that I am motivated to reform because of the over-representation, but there are other programs that we have put in place. We have got the Koorie women’s diversion project, which is intensive and holistic case management and practical support to ensure that Aboriginal women have access to the services and advice they need in this case. We have a dedicated women’s bail project, which is a cultural and gender-specific support program for Aboriginal women involved in the corrections system to obtain bail and avoid remand. So there are things that we have been doing.
I am on the record. I have the support of the Premier. He has made very strong commitments around the fact that we are looking at bail reform. It is well developed, but there is further consultation to do to make sure that we get it right, and I will have more to say in the very near future.
Samantha RATNAM (Northern Metropolitan) (13:27): Thank you, Attorney, for your response. We look forward to seeing progress as quickly as possible and as urgently as the situation warrants. Attorney, compounding the damage of holding Aboriginal women on remand is the fact that a majority of these women have children. As a recent parliamentary committee confirmed, parental incarceration is both disproportionate and particularly harmful for First Nations children and a significant contributor to the next generation’s ongoing disproportionate contact with the child protection and criminal justice systems. Attorney, will you ensure that any amendments to bail laws, which you have indicated will be reviewed and hopefully reformed, will include specific provisions to require consideration of parental duties along with the long-term intergenerational harm of First Nations over-incarceration when determining bail?
Jaclyn SYMES (Northern Victoria – Attorney-General, Minister for Emergency Services) (13:28): Dr Ratnam, I think that that supplementary question is a good example of how complex this legislation reform can be. It is not a matter of one section of the Bail Act being reformed. It is about the considerations that you want to bring in, it is about the level of reverse onus and it is about where the threshold sits in relation to summary offences. This is really complex legislation, and I look forward to having the conversation in the chamber. But you have identified a pretty specific part of the Bail Act that of course I am looking at. I am looking at a range of considerations that can be brought in, but that is the exact reason that we cannot rush this.