After months of building pressure to act on the rising crime rate in Victoria, the Allan government successfully passed laws to restrict the use of bail in Victoria in late March.
When announcing the new laws, Premier Jacinta Allan stated: “I have listened to victims of crime and Victorians, and I have acted. These are the toughest bail laws in the country – putting community safety above all and delivering consequences for those who break the law.”
The changes enshrined in the new laws include removing the requirement that remand only be used as a last resort for children; making it an offence to breach bail conditions, carrying up to three months in prison; and elevating the bail test for someone who commits an indictable offence while on bail for an indictable offence, with these offenders required to demonstrate “compelling reasons” to be released on bail – the same test associated with a manslaughter charge.
Recently released crime statistics showed that the crime rate in Victoria has increased by 13.2 per cent over the last year – the highest in the last several years. The youth crime rate is the highest it’s been in decades. These crime statistics, compounded by intense media focus on the issue, has created a high-stakes environment for the Victorian Government to be seen as decisive and tough on crime.
The new laws have faced widespread criticism from legal and human rights groups. The director of the Human Rights Law Centre, Maggia Munn, weighed in: “It is deeply shameful that the Allan government has refused to learn from past policy failures, and instead capitulated to the tabloid media to entrench dangerous bail laws that undermine people’s right to liberty, worsen the mass incarceration of Aboriginal people, and condemn generations of children and adults to the damage and trauma of imprisonment.”
The government has indicated they will be introducing a second bill in the middle of year to create even tougher bail tests for “serious repeat offenders”.
Justice Health NSW has unveiled a new system of “open clinics” in prisons as part of a groundbreaking initiative to enhance healthcare access in correctional facilities across the state.
Similar to community walk-in services, the new model allows incarcerated people to walk into designated clinics during specific hours without making a reservation. The change is a major shift from the previous appointment-based system, in which prisoners had to make a formal written request to see a medical professional, which frequently resulted in delays and unfulfilled medical needs.
According to Justice Health NSW, the change is designed to make healthcare more responsive, preventative and equitable. Open clinics enable earlier intervention for mental and physical health issues by eliminating procedural barriers and encourage people in custody to take greater responsibility for their health.
The program was piloted in certain facilities, where it led to reduced wait times, improved management for chronic conditions and higher patient satisfaction. The program has now been implemented in all major correctional facilities in NSW as a result of its success.
Additionally, healthcare workers have reported less administrative work, more efficient workflow and better triage procedures. To ensure that even remote prisons receive prompt care, the department plans to further develop the healthcare services with telehealth options.
This reform is part of NSW Justice Health’s larger initiative to modernise prison healthcare and reflects an increased understanding of the role health plays in rehabilitation and long-term community reintegration.
The ACT Government has invested $8 million into the Alexander Maconochie Centre (AMC) in what executives say is a big step forward. The funding was used to build a new administration block, while the old staff quarters were repurposed as classrooms for inmates’ education and rehabilitation. This came three years after reports slammed AMC for a number of reasons, including the overcrowding issue in prisons and incarcerated people being unable to study or work during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“These new areas will increase the capacity to provide education and rehabilitation programs, helping reduce the likelihood of detainees reoffending and returning to detention,” ACT Minister for Corrections, Dr Marisa Paterson, said.
Incarcerated people can choose to study with registered training organisations, completing courses in areas such as construction, business, food safety, safe work practices and hygienic practices.
According to ACT Corrective Services Commissioner Leanne Close, these courses are not mandatory but incarcerated people are given incentives to participate. With more than a third of incarcerated people enrolled in education programs, the ACT remained “well above” the national average.
“It helps them when they come up for a parole hearing,” Close said. “But it also keeps them busy during the day and gives them an interest and skill set that will enable them to fold back into the community well.”
In April this year, the Office of the Inspector of Custodial Services released the report from the 2024 inspection of Hakea Prison. Hakea is Western Australia’s primary remand facility for adult males: approximately 80 per cent of the people incarcerated are unsentenced and have not been convicted for the alleged offences for which they are detained. The Inspector of Custodial Services, Eamon Ryan, stated that since the inspection in May 2024 conditions at Hakea have not improved bar a few exceptions and that another follow-up inspection report is scheduled to be tabled in Parliament in the third quarter of this year.
The recent report detailed that people incarcerated in Hakea were regularly given less than two hours out of cells on any given day and sometimes received no time out of cells in a 24-hour period.
Further, the time out of cells was usually confined to the wing or unit and access to outside areas and fresh air was rare. When people were briefly unlocked, they were forced to choose between essential activities such as showering, attending medical appointments or making telephone calls.
The increased lockdowns, in tandem with staff shortages, meant that people incarcerated were unable to make telephone calls and have social visits, impeding contact with family and loved ones. Employment was generally limited to essential services such as the kitchen and laundry, and access to any form of meaningful activity such as education, programs, recreation and other forms of employment was found to be extremely rare. Meals were often eaten in cells, resulting in pest infestations and unhygienic living conditions. People incarcerated at Hakea reported that they had to wear the same clothes multiple days in a row and that there was limited access to clean bedding.
Mr Ryan stated that the treatment of the people who are incarcerated in Hakea is cruel, inhumane and degrading and that, since the May 2024 inspection, suicide attempts remain high.
About Time will provide updates on the follow-up report.
After months of building pressure to act on the rising crime rate in Victoria, the Allan government successfully passed laws to restrict the use of bail in Victoria in late March.
When announcing the new laws, Premier Jacinta Allan stated: “I have listened to victims of crime and Victorians, and I have acted. These are the toughest bail laws in the country – putting community safety above all and delivering consequences for those who break the law.”
The changes enshrined in the new laws include removing the requirement that remand only be used as a last resort for children; making it an offence to breach bail conditions, carrying up to three months in prison; and elevating the bail test for someone who commits an indictable offence while on bail for an indictable offence, with these offenders required to demonstrate “compelling reasons” to be released on bail – the same test associated with a manslaughter charge.
Recently released crime statistics showed that the crime rate in Victoria has increased by 13.2 per cent over the last year – the highest in the last several years. The youth crime rate is the highest it’s been in decades. These crime statistics, compounded by intense media focus on the issue, has created a high-stakes environment for the Victorian Government to be seen as decisive and tough on crime.
The new laws have faced widespread criticism from legal and human rights groups. The director of the Human Rights Law Centre, Maggia Munn, weighed in: “It is deeply shameful that the Allan government has refused to learn from past policy failures, and instead capitulated to the tabloid media to entrench dangerous bail laws that undermine people’s right to liberty, worsen the mass incarceration of Aboriginal people, and condemn generations of children and adults to the damage and trauma of imprisonment.”
The government has indicated they will be introducing a second bill in the middle of year to create even tougher bail tests for “serious repeat offenders”.
Justice Health NSW has unveiled a new system of “open clinics” in prisons as part of a groundbreaking initiative to enhance healthcare access in correctional facilities across the state.
Similar to community walk-in services, the new model allows incarcerated people to walk into designated clinics during specific hours without making a reservation. The change is a major shift from the previous appointment-based system, in which prisoners had to make a formal written request to see a medical professional, which frequently resulted in delays and unfulfilled medical needs.
According to Justice Health NSW, the change is designed to make healthcare more responsive, preventative and equitable. Open clinics enable earlier intervention for mental and physical health issues by eliminating procedural barriers and encourage people in custody to take greater responsibility for their health.
The program was piloted in certain facilities, where it led to reduced wait times, improved management for chronic conditions and higher patient satisfaction. The program has now been implemented in all major correctional facilities in NSW as a result of its success.
Additionally, healthcare workers have reported less administrative work, more efficient workflow and better triage procedures. To ensure that even remote prisons receive prompt care, the department plans to further develop the healthcare services with telehealth options.
This reform is part of NSW Justice Health’s larger initiative to modernise prison healthcare and reflects an increased understanding of the role health plays in rehabilitation and long-term community reintegration.
The ACT Government has invested $8 million into the Alexander Maconochie Centre (AMC) in what executives say is a big step forward. The funding was used to build a new administration block, while the old staff quarters were repurposed as classrooms for inmates’ education and rehabilitation. This came three years after reports slammed AMC for a number of reasons, including the overcrowding issue in prisons and incarcerated people being unable to study or work during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“These new areas will increase the capacity to provide education and rehabilitation programs, helping reduce the likelihood of detainees reoffending and returning to detention,” ACT Minister for Corrections, Dr Marisa Paterson, said.
Incarcerated people can choose to study with registered training organisations, completing courses in areas such as construction, business, food safety, safe work practices and hygienic practices.
According to ACT Corrective Services Commissioner Leanne Close, these courses are not mandatory but incarcerated people are given incentives to participate. With more than a third of incarcerated people enrolled in education programs, the ACT remained “well above” the national average.
“It helps them when they come up for a parole hearing,” Close said. “But it also keeps them busy during the day and gives them an interest and skill set that will enable them to fold back into the community well.”
In April this year, the Office of the Inspector of Custodial Services released the report from the 2024 inspection of Hakea Prison. Hakea is Western Australia’s primary remand facility for adult males: approximately 80 per cent of the people incarcerated are unsentenced and have not been convicted for the alleged offences for which they are detained. The Inspector of Custodial Services, Eamon Ryan, stated that since the inspection in May 2024 conditions at Hakea have not improved bar a few exceptions and that another follow-up inspection report is scheduled to be tabled in Parliament in the third quarter of this year.
The recent report detailed that people incarcerated in Hakea were regularly given less than two hours out of cells on any given day and sometimes received no time out of cells in a 24-hour period.
Further, the time out of cells was usually confined to the wing or unit and access to outside areas and fresh air was rare. When people were briefly unlocked, they were forced to choose between essential activities such as showering, attending medical appointments or making telephone calls.
The increased lockdowns, in tandem with staff shortages, meant that people incarcerated were unable to make telephone calls and have social visits, impeding contact with family and loved ones. Employment was generally limited to essential services such as the kitchen and laundry, and access to any form of meaningful activity such as education, programs, recreation and other forms of employment was found to be extremely rare. Meals were often eaten in cells, resulting in pest infestations and unhygienic living conditions. People incarcerated at Hakea reported that they had to wear the same clothes multiple days in a row and that there was limited access to clean bedding.
Mr Ryan stated that the treatment of the people who are incarcerated in Hakea is cruel, inhumane and degrading and that, since the May 2024 inspection, suicide attempts remain high.
About Time will provide updates on the follow-up report.
The Final Report of the Tasmanian Legislative Council Inquiry into Tasmanian Adult Imprisonment and Youth Detention Matters was tabled on 2 April 2025.
The inquiry received 67 written submissions and heard oral submissions from a number of stakeholders through public hearings held in 2023. A number of stakeholders were involved in the inquiry, including community-based organisations working with prisoners and people involved in the criminal legal system, academics, former prison workers, oversight bodies such as the Office of the Custodial Inspector and Tasmanians with lived experience
of incarceration.
The report makes several findings relating to the current and ongoing conditions at Tasmanian prisons, highlighting the lack of access to rehabilitation and other programs, difficulties experienced by prisoners post-release, the need for improved health and mental health services and the inadequate resourcing of the Office of the Custodial Inspector, which provides a critical oversight function in relation to both the adult and youth prisons.
The report also makes several recommendations relating to the prison and legal systems, including improved screening mechanisms for cognitive impairment within the prison system, implementation of therapeutic throughcare models – with increased funding for post-release supports – and increased access to prisoner employment opportunities, including prison-based industries and trade qualifications.
The South Australian Government has passed a reform to change the way courts describe verdicts when a defendant is found not responsible for a crime due to mental incompetence. The term “not guilty due to mental incompetence” will now be replaced with “conduct proved, but not criminally responsible”.
The change follows concerns raised by victims, victims’ families and legal experts, who argue that the old term implied no crime had occurred. The state government has consulted with the Commissioner for Victims’ Rights over the terminology change.
The reform follows the Malinauskas Government’s wider “crack down” on crime. The government will now work with the Courts Administration Authority and police to put these changes in place as soon as possible.
Catholic Bishop Charles Gauci has raised serious concerns with the Northern Territory Government about restricted access for chaplains to local prisons. In a letter to Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro and Corrections Minister Gerard Maley, Bishop Gauci said Catholic chaplains were facing major barriers reaching people in prison, calling it a moral and practical issue.
Volunteer chaplain Father Dan Benedetti revealed his team has been unable to deliver services at Darwin Correctional Centre since November, describing the situation as “heartbreaking”.
The NT's prison population has surged since the Territory election last year. To manage overcrowding, people are being held in police watch houses, and facilities at Alice Springs and Berrimah have been expanded or reopened.
Corrections Commissioner Matthew Varley admitted that staff shortages and lockdowns have disrupted chaplaincy services, along with other rehabilitation and educational programs. He said efforts are underway to fix this.
Bishop Gauci emphasised that chaplaincy plays a crucial role in rehabilitation and community safety. He warned that the absence of spiritual care impacts not only incarcerate people but also their families and wider communities. He urged the government to reinstate reliable access for pastoral services, noting that religious freedoms are being inadvertently restricted.
The Queensland Government has paused the implementation of changes to the Anti-Discrimination Act 1991 (Qld), that were due to come into effect on 1 July 2025. The Government has indicated that further consultation with stakeholders is required before any changes are implemented and that they have received advice that new protected attributes for discrimination, including “irrelevant criminal record”, could impact on certain statutory decision-making schemes.
The Queensland Human Rights Commissioner, Scott McDougall, has responded to the Government’s decision and noted that extensive consultations were undertaken on these reforms, which were widely supported by the community. His view is that the changes that were due to come into effect would strengthen obligations on business, government and organisations to improve protections for Queenslanders from discrimination and harassment, including people experiencing homelessness and victim survivors of domestic and family violence.
Prisoners’ Legal Service has signed an open letter to the government urging for the changes to proceed as planned given that extensive consultation has
already occurred.
The letter also states that any concerns about the impact of certain provisions, such as including a protection against discrimination based on an “irrelevant criminal record”, are unfounded. Instead, the change will ensure that individuals are assessed fairly and that irrelevant criminal records do not become an unjust barrier to employment or social participation.
The Final Report of the Tasmanian Legislative Council Inquiry into Tasmanian Adult Imprisonment and Youth Detention Matters was tabled on 2 April 2025.
The inquiry received 67 written submissions and heard oral submissions from a number of stakeholders through public hearings held in 2023. A number of stakeholders were involved in the inquiry, including community-based organisations working with prisoners and people involved in the criminal legal system, academics, former prison workers, oversight bodies such as the Office of the Custodial Inspector and Tasmanians with lived experience
of incarceration.
The report makes several findings relating to the current and ongoing conditions at Tasmanian prisons, highlighting the lack of access to rehabilitation and other programs, difficulties experienced by prisoners post-release, the need for improved health and mental health services and the inadequate resourcing of the Office of the Custodial Inspector, which provides a critical oversight function in relation to both the adult and youth prisons.
The report also makes several recommendations relating to the prison and legal systems, including improved screening mechanisms for cognitive impairment within the prison system, implementation of therapeutic throughcare models – with increased funding for post-release supports – and increased access to prisoner employment opportunities, including prison-based industries and trade qualifications.
The South Australian Government has passed a reform to change the way courts describe verdicts when a defendant is found not responsible for a crime due to mental incompetence. The term “not guilty due to mental incompetence” will now be replaced with “conduct proved, but not criminally responsible”.
The change follows concerns raised by victims, victims’ families and legal experts, who argue that the old term implied no crime had occurred. The state government has consulted with the Commissioner for Victims’ Rights over the terminology change.
The reform follows the Malinauskas Government’s wider “crack down” on crime. The government will now work with the Courts Administration Authority and police to put these changes in place as soon as possible.
Catholic Bishop Charles Gauci has raised serious concerns with the Northern Territory Government about restricted access for chaplains to local prisons. In a letter to Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro and Corrections Minister Gerard Maley, Bishop Gauci said Catholic chaplains were facing major barriers reaching people in prison, calling it a moral and practical issue.
Volunteer chaplain Father Dan Benedetti revealed his team has been unable to deliver services at Darwin Correctional Centre since November, describing the situation as “heartbreaking”.
The NT's prison population has surged since the Territory election last year. To manage overcrowding, people are being held in police watch houses, and facilities at Alice Springs and Berrimah have been expanded or reopened.
Corrections Commissioner Matthew Varley admitted that staff shortages and lockdowns have disrupted chaplaincy services, along with other rehabilitation and educational programs. He said efforts are underway to fix this.
Bishop Gauci emphasised that chaplaincy plays a crucial role in rehabilitation and community safety. He warned that the absence of spiritual care impacts not only incarcerate people but also their families and wider communities. He urged the government to reinstate reliable access for pastoral services, noting that religious freedoms are being inadvertently restricted.
The Queensland Government has paused the implementation of changes to the Anti-Discrimination Act 1991 (Qld), that were due to come into effect on 1 July 2025. The Government has indicated that further consultation with stakeholders is required before any changes are implemented and that they have received advice that new protected attributes for discrimination, including “irrelevant criminal record”, could impact on certain statutory decision-making schemes.
The Queensland Human Rights Commissioner, Scott McDougall, has responded to the Government’s decision and noted that extensive consultations were undertaken on these reforms, which were widely supported by the community. His view is that the changes that were due to come into effect would strengthen obligations on business, government and organisations to improve protections for Queenslanders from discrimination and harassment, including people experiencing homelessness and victim survivors of domestic and family violence.
Prisoners’ Legal Service has signed an open letter to the government urging for the changes to proceed as planned given that extensive consultation has
already occurred.
The letter also states that any concerns about the impact of certain provisions, such as including a protection against discrimination based on an “irrelevant criminal record”, are unfounded. Instead, the change will ensure that individuals are assessed fairly and that irrelevant criminal records do not become an unjust barrier to employment or social participation.
This information was provided by Prisoners’ Legal Service, Queensland. It is information only and should not be relied on as legal advice.
Including tough bail laws being introduced in Victoria, the South Australian Government ruling out raising the age of criminal responsibility, a new parole board president appointed in Queensland and more.
The Australian Federal election is coming up. This is about voting for the Prime Minister and other federal politicians. It will be held on 3 May 2025.
“We can’t get information about how a party or candidate’s policies must impact prisoners,” Kelly told About Time. “Prison officers also will not provide us with any information as it is seen as political.”
Prison work differs across the country.
Help us get About Time off the ground. All donations are tax deductible and will be vital in providing an essential resource for people in prison and their loved ones.
Help us get About Time off the ground. All donations are tax deductible and will be vital in providing an essential resource for people in prison and their loved ones.
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