The New South Wales government is introducing sweeping changes to make it harder for people accused of serious domestic violence offences to get bail.
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00:00 These changes are designed to better protect the victims of domestic violence and address
00:06 the problem of people who have been accused of serious domestic violence offences then
00:10 committing new crimes while out on bail.
00:13 What it will mean is that soon people charged with the most serious domestic violence offences
00:18 including things like sexual assault, some forms of strangulation, kidnapping as well
00:24 as coercive control will soon have to show cause as to why they should not be kept in
00:29 custody on remand as opposed to the onus being on the prosecution to prove why they should
00:35 be.
00:36 Now currently that high threshold is only reserved for the most serious of crimes so
00:40 things like murder, child sexual assault but soon after this legislation is passed through
00:46 the NSW Parliament those people charged with the most serious domestic violence offences
00:50 will also be added to that list.
00:52 Now for those who are granted bail they will be subject to electronic monitoring although
00:57 at this stage the Premier Chris Minn says exactly how that will work, whether or not
01:01 victims will be alerted if somebody breaks the conditions of their bail is yet to be
01:07 worked out and he says that will take some time to work through those details.
01:11 The system doesn't currently work in any jurisdiction other than in a trial phase and as a result
01:18 in Australia's largest jurisdiction we have to stand it up.
01:21 It also needs to be remembered however that the vast majority of the proposed legislative
01:26 changes that we are introducing will be switched on as soon as the legislation passes so the
01:32 reversal of the presumption for bail for serious domestic violence offences will be switched
01:37 on as soon as the legislation passes.
01:42 Now as well as those changes there are also other changes that apply more broadly to domestic
01:46 violence offences.
01:48 For example registrars will no longer be able to make bail decisions for people charged
01:52 with domestic violence offences including on weekends.
01:55 Those decisions will have to be made by a magistrate and magistrates will also have
01:59 to consider red flag behaviour so things like stalking or animal cruelty in their decisions
02:05 as well as taking into consideration their views and thoughts of victims and their families
02:09 Ros.
02:10 And Sarah these changes come after a string of high profile domestic violence cases including
02:15 the death of Forbes woman Molly Tyser last month.
02:18 What's been the reaction to the government's announcement?
02:22 Well the Attorney General Michael Daley says he had a phone call with Molly Tyser's father
02:27 yesterday and that it was a very sad but respectful conversation where her father welcomed these
02:33 changes and was grateful that they were being introduced.
02:36 It was Molly Tyser's death which has really set in motion this series of reforms but there
02:41 of course has been a real spotlight on the domestic violence incidents since that death
02:45 as well so the public outcry over this issue has been mounting.
02:49 Now in response to the announcements today domestic violence advocates have broadly welcomed
02:54 them.
02:55 They have expressed some concern about how they'll operate in practice particularly the
03:00 issues of ankle monitoring.
03:01 They say that really that should not be seen as a substitute for keeping people in custody
03:06 on remand.
03:07 However they're also saying that bail laws and bail reforms are good but there needs
03:12 to be broader changes, more funding and that simply changing the bail laws is not going
03:16 to be the silver bullet for this problem.
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