In 2017-18, in a knee-jerk reaction to an exceptional event, the
Victorian Government overhauled the Bail Act. It was
acknowledged at the time that the bail laws were already the most
restrictive in Victoria, and the purpose of reform was to make them
even more so. It was acknowledged that the changes would result in
more people in prison. And that has indeed come to pass.
We must ask whose interests these laws really serve.
Victoria's commitment to mass incarceration
In January 2017, James Gargasoulas deliberately drove his car
down Bourke Street and killed 6 people, injuring many more and
frightening the whole city. Within three days, the Government
proposed bail reform as the solution to prevent such things from
happening in the future (there have been two other instances of
people driving down Bourke street since Gargasoulas). Almost four
years later, a Coroner's report was released detailing the
causes of that tragic event. What is apparent from
