<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <docID>340145</docID> <postdate>2025-03-12 10:18:12</postdate> <headline>‘Toughest bail laws in Australia’ to crackdown on crime</headline> <body><p><img class=" wp-image-340146" src="https://citynews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/20240415001932290906-original-1-scaled.jpg" alt="" width="672" height="448" /></p> <caption>Victoria is introducing tough new bail laws to tackle rising crime rates. (James Ross/AAP PHOTOS)</caption> <p class="wire-column__preview__author"><span class="kicker-line"><b>William Ton</b> in Melbourne</span></p> <p><strong>The "toughest bail laws in Australia" will be implemented after a spate of crime left a state government under pressure to act.</strong></p> <p>Victoria's Premier Jacinta Allan has flagged the state's bail laws will be reformed amid mounting community anger about rising crime, including aggravated burglaries and car thefts.</p> <p>"We're introducing the toughest bail laws in Australia to keep Victorians safe," she said on X on Wednesday.</p> <p>Cabinet ministers met on Tuesday to discuss raising the threshold for granting bail for serious crimes.</p> <p>The premier said that the reforms would prioritise community safety in bail decisions.</p> <p>"They include a new bail test that is extremely hard to pass - targeting repeat offenders of the worst crimes," she said.</p> <p>"They will restore respect for bail - with consequences for breaking the rules."</p> <p>Ms Allan initiated a law review in early 2025, led by Attorney-General Sonya Kilkenny and Police Minister Anthony Carbines.</p> <p>Victoria tightened bail laws in 2018 after James Gargasoulas drove into Melbourne's busy Bourke Street Mall in 2017 while on bail, killing six people and injuring dozens more.</p> <p>The changes were found to be a "complete and unmitigated disaster" in a <a href="https://coronerscourt.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2023-08/COR%202020%200021%20-%20Veronica%20Nelson%20Inquiry%20-%20Form%2037%20-%20Finding%20into%20Death%20with%20Inquest%20-%2030%20January%202023%20-%20Amended%2024%20August%202023.pdf">coronial inquest</a> into Indigenous woman Veronica Nelson's 2020 death in her cell after she was refused bail on a charge of breaching bail and suspicion of shoplifting.</p> <p>Laws were subsequently enacted in March 2024 to make it easier for low-level offenders to get bail, with the offences of committing an indictable offence whilst on bail and breaching a condition of bail abolished.</p> </body>