After building one of the nation’s most restrictive bail regimes after Jill Meagher’s murder (in 2012) and the Bourke Street attack (in 2017), Victoria bucked the trend and softened its laws in 2023, having accepted a coroner’s criticism of legislation which he found contributed to Veronica Nelson’s death in a Melbourne prison in 2020.
It’s not yet two years since those 2023 reforms. But Premier Jacinta Allan has now completely reversed this position, vowing to introduce the “toughest bail laws in Australia”. It follows staunch petitioning by social media influencers, FM radio hosts and the tabloid press, all demanding a response to what they say is a youth crime wave engulfing the suburbs.
