The Victorian state government is introducing tough bail laws, reversing hard-won changes made in 2023.
The ‘Tough Bail Laws’ includes removing remand as a ‘last resort’, creating the ‘toughest ever’ bail test for worst offences, and new bail laws for serious, high-risk offences.
The bail laws introduce the offence of ‘committing an indictable offence while on bail’, which is subject to a second-strike rule. If one commits an indictable offence while already on bail for an indictable offence, you will need to show ‘compelling reasons’ for bail. The Government will also declare machetes as prohibited weapons and introduce electronic monitoring for young offenders. The changes have received widespread opposition from legal and human rights organisations, saying it will lead to further deaths in custody and is against the first principle of ‘innocent until proven guilty’. More to come.
In late 2024, the Victorian Government introduced legislation to expand and toughen the state’s anti-vilification laws. The Victorian Parliament began debating the Justice Legislation Amendment (Anti-vilification and Social Cohesion) Bill in February this year.
The Bill aims to expand existing legal protection against racial and religious vilification to include disability, gender identity, sex and sexual orientation. It also aims to create criminal penalties for vilification offences.
The charge of incitement – to “incite hatred, serious contempt, revulsion or severe ridicule against another person or group based on their protected attribute” – could result in a prison sentence of up to three years. To “threaten physical harm or property damage against a person or a group based on their protected attribute” will carry up to five years in prison.
In early February, the opposition said they would not support the Bill, taking issue with a clause that allowed for “political expression” as a defence against the incitement charge, believing this would undermine the intent of the law. By mid February, Premier Jacinta Allan announced that this clause had been removed, but that the opposition was still not willing to support it.
The Greens have offered support for the Bill, conditional on amendments being made that would manage their concerns about police being given additional powers.
The Human Rights Law Centre stated that the Bill represents a “positive signal on what the Victorian community stands for, but laws alone will not stamp out hate”.
The South Australian Government has ruled out raising the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 12, despite strong advocacy from experts and human rights groups.
Last year, the Malinauskas Government committed to reviewing the issue and invited public submissions. However, instead of reform, it has now announced increased investment in police, courts, and prisons.
The United Nations recommends a minimum age of criminal responsibility of at least 14 years old. South Australia has faced ongoing criticism from First Nations and human rights organisations for failing to meet this standard.
In 2023, data showed that an average of 30 children were held in detention in South Australia each day, with more than half being Indigenous. Aboriginal children remain 17 times more likely to be incarcerated than their non-indigenous peers.
This decision follows months of media coverage of the “youth crime crisis”, despite evidence showing a 39% decrease in reoffending among children in South Australia over the past five years.
South Australia’s Guardian for Children and Young People, Shona Reid, has warned that prioritising detention over diversionary programs will only lead to worse outcomes for both children and the broader South Australian community.
The NSW Government has announced that it intends to move one of the largest prisons in the state, Parklea Correctional Centre, from private to public administration by October 2026. This decision is part of a broader initiative by the Labor government to reverse the privatisation of public assets, concerning the “failed prison for profit model.”
The Public Service Association (PSA) has long pushed for this reform, citing problems including poor inmate care and a rise in violence under private management.
Since 2009, MTC Australia, a division of a contentious American private prison operator, has privately run the Parklea Correctional Centre located in Sydney’s northwest. The facility houses both maximum- and minimum-security inmates. Over the years, it has faced several challenges, including incidents of inmate violence and concerns regarding rehabilitation programs.
Parklea is one of the three privately operated prisons in NSW. Parklea’s transition comes after the government’s earlier decision to return Junee Correctional Centre to public management, with the transition set to be completed in April 2025.
However, plans to return Clarence Correctional Centre, Australia’s largest prison with 1,700 beds, to public management are stated to be not feasible due to the substantial costs associated with terminating the current contract with the current private operator, Serco, which was signed in 2020.
Premier Chris Minns emphasised that public management prioritises education, rehabilitation, and safe integration of incarcerated people into the community as opposed to profit-driven goals of private operators.
PSA welcomed the government’s decision, viewing it as a vindication of their campaign against prison privatisation. They anticipate improvements in staff conditions, including better pay, safer working environments, and enhanced promotion opportunities within the public system.
Additionally, the move is expected to benefit taxpayers by reducing reliance on private operators that may prioritise overseas shareholders over the needs of NSW residents. MTC Australia has expressed disappointment in the government’s decision and will work with the government to ensure a smooth transition.
The Tasmanian Liberal Government has announced that a planned independent review of the Tasmanian Integrity Commission (TIC) cannot go ahead.
The TIC is an independent statutory authority reporting on public sector misconduct, as well as promoting good governance and ethical practice.
The Government had committed to an independent review of the TIC as part of a supply and confidence agreement made with independent MPs, who had requested the review. However, in late February, the Premier Jeremy Rockliff announced the review could not go ahead due to a potential legal issue.
While some of the independent MPs have accepted the Government’s decision, other members of the crossbench (including independents and the Greens) have raised serious concerns about the Government’s actions.
The TIC was previously reviewed in 2016 and a number of recommendations were made to improve its functions. However, 40 of those recommendations remain outstanding.
Meanwhile, reports from independent advocacy organisations such as The Australia Institute have continued to highlight the need for comprehensive reform to increase the capacity of the TIC to meaningfully investigate and respond to public sector misconduct.
The Victorian state government is introducing tough bail laws, reversing hard-won changes made in 2023.
The ‘Tough Bail Laws’ includes removing remand as a ‘last resort’, creating the ‘toughest ever’ bail test for worst offences, and new bail laws for serious, high-risk offences.
The bail laws introduce the offence of ‘committing an indictable offence while on bail’, which is subject to a second-strike rule. If one commits an indictable offence while already on bail for an indictable offence, you will need to show ‘compelling reasons’ for bail. The Government will also declare machetes as prohibited weapons and introduce electronic monitoring for young offenders. The changes have received widespread opposition from legal and human rights organisations, saying it will lead to further deaths in custody and is against the first principle of ‘innocent until proven guilty’. More to come.
In late 2024, the Victorian Government introduced legislation to expand and toughen the state’s anti-vilification laws. The Victorian Parliament began debating the Justice Legislation Amendment (Anti-vilification and Social Cohesion) Bill in February this year.
The Bill aims to expand existing legal protection against racial and religious vilification to include disability, gender identity, sex and sexual orientation. It also aims to create criminal penalties for vilification offences.
The charge of incitement – to “incite hatred, serious contempt, revulsion or severe ridicule against another person or group based on their protected attribute” – could result in a prison sentence of up to three years. To “threaten physical harm or property damage against a person or a group based on their protected attribute” will carry up to five years in prison.
In early February, the opposition said they would not support the Bill, taking issue with a clause that allowed for “political expression” as a defence against the incitement charge, believing this would undermine the intent of the law. By mid February, Premier Jacinta Allan announced that this clause had been removed, but that the opposition was still not willing to support it.
The Greens have offered support for the Bill, conditional on amendments being made that would manage their concerns about police being given additional powers.
The Human Rights Law Centre stated that the Bill represents a “positive signal on what the Victorian community stands for, but laws alone will not stamp out hate”.
The South Australian Government has ruled out raising the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 12, despite strong advocacy from experts and human rights groups.
Last year, the Malinauskas Government committed to reviewing the issue and invited public submissions. However, instead of reform, it has now announced increased investment in police, courts, and prisons.
The United Nations recommends a minimum age of criminal responsibility of at least 14 years old. South Australia has faced ongoing criticism from First Nations and human rights organisations for failing to meet this standard.
In 2023, data showed that an average of 30 children were held in detention in South Australia each day, with more than half being Indigenous. Aboriginal children remain 17 times more likely to be incarcerated than their non-indigenous peers.
This decision follows months of media coverage of the “youth crime crisis”, despite evidence showing a 39% decrease in reoffending among children in South Australia over the past five years.
South Australia’s Guardian for Children and Young People, Shona Reid, has warned that prioritising detention over diversionary programs will only lead to worse outcomes for both children and the broader South Australian community.
The NSW Government has announced that it intends to move one of the largest prisons in the state, Parklea Correctional Centre, from private to public administration by October 2026. This decision is part of a broader initiative by the Labor government to reverse the privatisation of public assets, concerning the “failed prison for profit model.”
The Public Service Association (PSA) has long pushed for this reform, citing problems including poor inmate care and a rise in violence under private management.
Since 2009, MTC Australia, a division of a contentious American private prison operator, has privately run the Parklea Correctional Centre located in Sydney’s northwest. The facility houses both maximum- and minimum-security inmates. Over the years, it has faced several challenges, including incidents of inmate violence and concerns regarding rehabilitation programs.
Parklea is one of the three privately operated prisons in NSW. Parklea’s transition comes after the government’s earlier decision to return Junee Correctional Centre to public management, with the transition set to be completed in April 2025.
However, plans to return Clarence Correctional Centre, Australia’s largest prison with 1,700 beds, to public management are stated to be not feasible due to the substantial costs associated with terminating the current contract with the current private operator, Serco, which was signed in 2020.
Premier Chris Minns emphasised that public management prioritises education, rehabilitation, and safe integration of incarcerated people into the community as opposed to profit-driven goals of private operators.
PSA welcomed the government’s decision, viewing it as a vindication of their campaign against prison privatisation. They anticipate improvements in staff conditions, including better pay, safer working environments, and enhanced promotion opportunities within the public system.
Additionally, the move is expected to benefit taxpayers by reducing reliance on private operators that may prioritise overseas shareholders over the needs of NSW residents. MTC Australia has expressed disappointment in the government’s decision and will work with the government to ensure a smooth transition.
The Tasmanian Liberal Government has announced that a planned independent review of the Tasmanian Integrity Commission (TIC) cannot go ahead.
The TIC is an independent statutory authority reporting on public sector misconduct, as well as promoting good governance and ethical practice.
The Government had committed to an independent review of the TIC as part of a supply and confidence agreement made with independent MPs, who had requested the review. However, in late February, the Premier Jeremy Rockliff announced the review could not go ahead due to a potential legal issue.
While some of the independent MPs have accepted the Government’s decision, other members of the crossbench (including independents and the Greens) have raised serious concerns about the Government’s actions.
The TIC was previously reviewed in 2016 and a number of recommendations were made to improve its functions. However, 40 of those recommendations remain outstanding.
Meanwhile, reports from independent advocacy organisations such as The Australia Institute have continued to highlight the need for comprehensive reform to increase the capacity of the TIC to meaningfully investigate and respond to public sector misconduct.
Residents of Nullagine, a town of 1,200 people located 1,300 kilometres north of Perth, faced significant barriers to vote in the Western Australian state election this March.
Less than a week before the vote, remote polling in Nullagine was rescheduled, then cancelled, due to safety concerns in the wake of Tropical Cyclone Zelia. Residents were offered a last minute alternative of accessing a remote polling station in Marble Bar during an allotted one-hour window. However, Marble Bar is a 200 kilometre round trip from Nullagine and the road between the two towns was closed.
The only other option available to residents was a 400 kilometre round trip to a polling station at Newman on Saturday 10 March.
Western Desert community leader and Nullagine resident, Bruce Booth, has raised concerns that the remote polling cancellation is a violation of the democratic rights of Nullagine residents, and that it has created additional financial pressure due to fuel affordability and the $50 fine for not voting. He said, “if we don’t have the chance to vote because we have to travel backwards and forwards a long distance, it’s not fair to the community”.
“We want to see the polling booths come to the community, not chase the polling booths. Because if we miss out, we get in trouble.”
Due to Western Australia’s size, remote polling can still be far away and difficult to access for some remote communities. This incident raises potential issues for polling access in remote prison locations.
The NT Government has signed a contract with global security firm G4S to provide private security guards in correctional settings. The guards will assist the courts in managing detainee numbers and assisting with prison transfers as the NT grapples with record high prison numbers.
The controversial company has had its safety record in the spotlight over recent years, including a recommendation by the Victorian Coroner to improve staff training in relation to the death of an Aboriginal man in a Victorian prison cell in 2022.
While record high detainee numbers are pushing the NT’s prison system to its limits, individuals have raised concerns about the company’s track record. In its report on this issue, the ABC quoted Independent MLA, Justine Davis, who said:
“Hiring a private security company with a history of violence and misconduct will not provide ‘much-needed relief’ for corrections officers.”
“It will create an unsafe working condition for corrections officers and unsafe conditions for prisoners in the system.”
As of January this year, more than 1 per cent of the NT’s population is imprisoned.
Michael Woodford has been appointed as the new President of the Parole Board Queensland, and commenced on Monday, 3 February 2025.
The Parole Board Queensland is a statutory body responsible for all decision-making about parole applications in Queensland, as well as decisions about the suspension and cancellation of parole orders. This excludes federal parole matters, which are decided by the Commonwealth Parole Office.
The operation of the Parole Board is governed by the Corrective Services Act 2006 and the Ministerial Guidelines to the Parole Board Queensland.
The President oversees all functions of the Board and is a key decision-maker. The President also has sole decision-making power for certain matters, such as restricted prisoner declarations.
Woodford has been a barrister for more than 25 years, working in criminal and administrative law. He acted as the Queensland Parliamentary Crime and Corruption Commissioner and was a member of the Southern Queensland Regional Parole Board.
Minister for Corrective Services Laura Gerber said about Woodford’s appointment: “He has extensive appellant experience in matters covering a wide range of cases from sex offences through to people smuggling, drug importation, fraud and domestic violence, and in administrative law and judicial review”.
Residents of Nullagine, a town of 1,200 people located 1,300 kilometres north of Perth, faced significant barriers to vote in the Western Australian state election this March.
Less than a week before the vote, remote polling in Nullagine was rescheduled, then cancelled, due to safety concerns in the wake of Tropical Cyclone Zelia. Residents were offered a last minute alternative of accessing a remote polling station in Marble Bar during an allotted one-hour window. However, Marble Bar is a 200 kilometre round trip from Nullagine and the road between the two towns was closed.
The only other option available to residents was a 400 kilometre round trip to a polling station at Newman on Saturday 10 March.
Western Desert community leader and Nullagine resident, Bruce Booth, has raised concerns that the remote polling cancellation is a violation of the democratic rights of Nullagine residents, and that it has created additional financial pressure due to fuel affordability and the $50 fine for not voting. He said, “if we don’t have the chance to vote because we have to travel backwards and forwards a long distance, it’s not fair to the community”.
“We want to see the polling booths come to the community, not chase the polling booths. Because if we miss out, we get in trouble.”
Due to Western Australia’s size, remote polling can still be far away and difficult to access for some remote communities. This incident raises potential issues for polling access in remote prison locations.
The NT Government has signed a contract with global security firm G4S to provide private security guards in correctional settings. The guards will assist the courts in managing detainee numbers and assisting with prison transfers as the NT grapples with record high prison numbers.
The controversial company has had its safety record in the spotlight over recent years, including a recommendation by the Victorian Coroner to improve staff training in relation to the death of an Aboriginal man in a Victorian prison cell in 2022.
While record high detainee numbers are pushing the NT’s prison system to its limits, individuals have raised concerns about the company’s track record. In its report on this issue, the ABC quoted Independent MLA, Justine Davis, who said:
“Hiring a private security company with a history of violence and misconduct will not provide ‘much-needed relief’ for corrections officers.”
“It will create an unsafe working condition for corrections officers and unsafe conditions for prisoners in the system.”
As of January this year, more than 1 per cent of the NT’s population is imprisoned.
Michael Woodford has been appointed as the new President of the Parole Board Queensland, and commenced on Monday, 3 February 2025.
The Parole Board Queensland is a statutory body responsible for all decision-making about parole applications in Queensland, as well as decisions about the suspension and cancellation of parole orders. This excludes federal parole matters, which are decided by the Commonwealth Parole Office.
The operation of the Parole Board is governed by the Corrective Services Act 2006 and the Ministerial Guidelines to the Parole Board Queensland.
The President oversees all functions of the Board and is a key decision-maker. The President also has sole decision-making power for certain matters, such as restricted prisoner declarations.
Woodford has been a barrister for more than 25 years, working in criminal and administrative law. He acted as the Queensland Parliamentary Crime and Corruption Commissioner and was a member of the Southern Queensland Regional Parole Board.
Minister for Corrective Services Laura Gerber said about Woodford’s appointment: “He has extensive appellant experience in matters covering a wide range of cases from sex offences through to people smuggling, drug importation, fraud and domestic violence, and in administrative law and judicial review”.
This information was provided by Prisoners’ Legal Service, Queensland. It is information only and should not be relied on as legal advice.
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.
The Midsumma Pride March sees tens of thousands march down Fitzroy Street in St Kilda, with many more turning out to cheer them on.
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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