Victoria's bail legislation will undergo reform amid mounting community anger about rising crime, including aggravated burglaries and car thefts.
Males in their mid-to-late teens make up 64 per cent of alleged aggravated burglary offenders, with the government aiming to target these younger serious offenders.
"It will be a jolt to the system that will see a crackdown on the worst of crimes, the worst of the reoffending, and this is because we are placing that priority on community safety above all," Premier Jacinta Allan told reporters on Wednesday.
Cabinet ministers discussed raising the threshold for granting bail for serious crimes and are set to rush through amendments on Tuesday, when state parliament next sits.
Community safety would be prioritised when courts decide whether to grant bail, the premier said.
The changes include scrapping remand as a last resort for accused youth offenders and denying bail to anyone accused of committing a serious offence if they are already on bail for a similar offence.
Those charged with serious gun, knife and arson offences, non-aggravated home invasion and carjacking face tougher hurdles to get bail.
Under the reforms, the government will reintroduce the offence of committing a serious crime while on bail and breaching bail conditions as a reason to refuse bail.
Machetes will also be banned as designated prohibited weapons.
Attorney-General Sonya Kilkenny said the reforms would drive down reoffending but conceded remand rates would rise.
"No one wants to see kids on remand, but we know there are young offenders and other offenders out there who are committing the very worst types of crime that is driving community fear," she said.
"This is important. This is about responding to community."
Police Association Victoria secretary Wayne Gatt said the new laws would swing the pendulum in the favour of good, innocent people and families who deserved protection and the right to safety.
"The onus will soon be back on the courts to act in the interests and preservation of community safety, and not in defiance to it," he said.
But former Liberty Victoria president Mike Stanton criticised the government for appearing before the Indigenous truth-telling commission Yoorrook while introducing the "draconian" laws.
"This will result in deaths in custody," he said.
Victoria tightened bail laws in 2018 after James Gargasoulas drove into Melbourne's busy Bourke Street Mall while on bail in 2017, killing six people and injuring dozens more.
Bail for low-level offenders was relaxed and bail breaching offences abolished in 2024 following the 2020 death of Indigenous woman Veronica Nelson in her cell after she was refused bail on a charge of breaching bail and suspicion of shoplifting.
"I do acknowledge we got it wrong, but I'm standing here as the premier today having listened to the Victorian community, and it's been made clear to me," Ms Allan said.
The premier initiated a law review in early 2025, led by Ms Kilkenny and Police Minister Anthony Carbines.
With AAP.
