Overview
- Attorneys-general meeting in Brisbane agreed by consensus to release the SCAG Bail and Remand Reform Working Group’s final report without endorsing it.
- The report urges bail laws to state that imprisonment is a last resort, to scrap stand‑alone bail‑breach offences, and to presume bail for children and for people with disability‑related issues.
- It recommends that courts consider a person’s Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander status in bail decisions to support Closing the Gap incarceration targets.
- Federal Attorney‑General Michelle Rowland said the Commonwealth will not push states and territories to adopt the proposals.
- States signaled resistance, with Queensland’s attorney‑general rejecting any weakening of tough laws and Victoria announcing plans this week to tighten youth bail for violent crimes.