Victorian government backflips on plans to relax child bail laws

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The Victorian government has back-pedalled on plans to relax child bail laws after a recent spike in youth crime. Legal and human rights groups have labelled the delay "senseless", arguing it will cause preventable harm to children.

Transcript

00:00 A worrying surge in child crime across Victoria has forced a bail back down.

00:07 The fact is that the government has done a 180 degree flip when it comes to youth bail.

00:13 Today we have seen a last minute back flip.

00:16 Parliament debated the government's long awaited bail reforms today, but last night Labor shelved

00:22 its plans to relax child bail laws.

00:25 Child bail reforms is still on the agenda, this is not a back flip, this is just a pause.

00:31 What's changed? Well the Premier's changed, but also the headlines have changed.

00:35 The laws would make it easier for children accused of any crime except terrorism and

00:40 homicide offences to get bail. But they'll now be revisited next year, along with plans

00:45 to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 12.

00:50 I'm dealing with them separately as I think it makes more sense to the public, particularly

00:54 in light of recent incidences involving young offenders that have been quite serious.

01:01 Laws that make it easier for adults to get bail are expected to pass Parliament. It comes

01:06 after a coroner investigating the death in custody of Veronica Nelson found the current

01:11 laws unfairly impacted Indigenous Victorians.

01:15 The current bail settings aren't working in the way that they should.

01:20 New data obtained by the ABC reveals the number of children who committed an indictable offence

01:25 whilst on bail decreased in the past two years, and they were a fraction of the overall people,

01:32 accounting for less than 1% of those charged.

01:36 Legal and human rights groups have labelled the pause on child bail reforms as senseless,

01:41 saying it'll cause harm to young people by keeping them needlessly locked up, waiting

01:46 for a trial.

01:48 These changes will absolutely have a detrimental impact on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander

01:52 children.

01:53 The Attorney-General insists the reforms are not urgent.

01:56 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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