The Koorie Youth Council (KYC) urges the Victorian Labor Government to immediately halt the proposed bail reforms announced yesterday. We urge them to instead work with us and Victoria’s Aboriginal community to implement community-driven and evidence-based solutions to ensure the ongoing wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people. KYC strongly condemns knee-jerk bail changes that will revert many of the positive bail reforms, beneficial to all Victorians, which the Aboriginal sector advocated for over many decades.

‘‘Tougher’ bail reforms will never get to the ‘heart of the issue’ and create ‘safer communities’, instead the Victorian Government must uphold their commitments to self-determination. This isn’t just a justice issue—it’s a crisis of survival. With the cost-of-living skyrocketing, homelessness and housing insecurity on the rise, and crimes of poverty becoming an inevitable consequence, these reforms will only deepen the harm.’

– Bonnie Dukakis, Chief Executive Officer