As of May 2025, we have seen a 9.73% increase in the adult prison population in Victoria in a period of one year. Dangerous and discriminatory bail laws which are deeply harming Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities are making it easier to needlessly lock away more people – before trial or sentencing.

Victoria’s punitive bail system has always disproportionately impacted Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, resulting in a dramatic increase in the number of people in prison who have not been sentenced. 13.5% of people in custody in Victoria are Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander, even though we only make up 1% of the states population. 

Over 35 years ago, the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody handed down its report, which included recommendations to increase access to bail and only use prison “as a sanction of last resort”. Since then, the recommendations have been repeated in many reports, reviews, inquiries and forums, yet Victoria has failed to implement these recommendations and instead has gone backwards.

The government have the reports, they have the recommendations, they have the case studies. They have listened to our stories, heard the evidence of systemic discrimination, harm, suffering and trauma inflicted by the violent and ongoing colonial project. The tragic number of Aboriginal deaths in custody since an extensive review was done three decades ago is a national shame. We know that the trajectory Victoria is on will result in having the most harmful bail laws in the country.

We continue to call for the transfer of decision-making power, authority, control and resources to First Peoples, so we can determine the solutions for our people.