Opposition pushes for immediate passage of a bail changes bill targeting alleged domestic violence offenders
Heated debates erupted in state parliament as the opposition pushed for immediate passage of a bill proposing bail changes for alleged domestic violence offenders. Introduced just today, the government's bill includes stricter bail tests and electronic monitoring measures. However, Labor has urged caution, arguing the issue is too critical to rush and accusing the coalition of politicizing the matter.
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00:00 Domestic violence and law and order may be top of the Premier's agenda, but he needs
00:07 boots on the ground to help enforce the law. So the Government's hoping to poach police
00:11 from interstate and even New Zealand. To sweeten the deal, many will be allowed to keep their
00:17 existing rank.
00:19 You'll be joining the best police force in the world.
00:22 40% of police work is related to domestic and family violence, and officers could soon
00:27 have to keep tabs on alleged defenders who've been fitted with tracking bracelets. That's
00:31 part of a wider domestic violence bail reform plan that the Opposition backs.
00:36 We'll obviously look at the detail of the bill, but in principle we support its general
00:39 direction.
00:41 But hours later, before seeing that detail, the Opposition demanded the bill be debated
00:46 immediately and passed through Parliament by the end of tomorrow.
00:50 36,000 domestic violence incidents reported last year requires us to act urgently and
00:57 not put this off until the June sittings of this Parliament.
01:02 But at the same time, you've got Mr Magoo getting up here and wanting to rush through
01:07 a bill that he doesn't even know what's in it.
01:10 It is completely irresponsible.
01:13 The Government had the numbers in the House and shut it down.
01:16 I have never seen a proposal from an Opposition that is such a dereliction of their duty.
01:23 We know that it's very easy to make changes into the Bail Act that have adverse outcomes
01:31 that maybe are not well thought through or easy to implement, and when that happens we
01:36 don't get the outcome we're looking for.
01:38 Even if they were passed this week, the Government says the bail changes wouldn't have taken
01:43 effect until July. While many domestic violence campaigners agree it's important to get the
01:48 legislation right, they also say any unnecessary delay could cost lives.
01:53 [BLANK_AUDIO]