The partner of Indigenous woman Veronica Nelson has hit out at the Victorian government after it emerged bail law changes could be delayed by 12 months.
In January, Coroner Simon McGregor found the 2020 death of Ms Nelson in custody was preventable and called for an urgent review of the bail act.
Bail laws were strengthened after James Gargasoulas drove into a busy Bourke Street Mall in January 2017, killing six people and injuring dozens more.
He was on bail at the time.
Previously, the reverse onus test – requiring an accused person to demonstrate why they should be granted bail – was only used for the most serious offenders, but it was expanded to cover those caught repeatedly carrying out low-level crimes like shoplifting.
Ms Nelson was arrested in December 2019 on warrants for breaching bail and suspicion of shoplifting.
She represented herself in a bail application, which was denied.
Following dozens of calls for help, she died in her cell at Dame Phyllis Frost Centre days later from complications of Wilkie’s syndrome, in a setting of withdrawal from heroin.
Under proposed reforms expected to be introduced to state parliament in 2023, the contentious reverse-onus test for bail would not apply to low-level offenders.
But the changes would not start for 12 months after passing and won’t completely remove the unacceptable risk test, according to working documents from the justice department obtained by The Age.
Ms Nelson’s partner, Uncle Percy Lovett, said what happened to her should never happen again.
“The government needs to make real changes to bail laws to stop so many people getting locked up before they have even been sentenced,” he said in a statement on Monday.
“No one should be locked up and refused bail if they wouldn’t get a prison sentence.”
Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service chief executive Nerita Waight said the 2017 bail law changes were the biggest failure of Daniel Andrews’ premiership and questioned why a potential delay was necessary.
“Veronica’s family and Aboriginal communities across Victoria have been consistent in asking for urgent bail reform,” she said.
“It has been three and a half years since Veronica’s passing – why should we have to wait any longer?
“The Andrews government have shown they can move much quicker when they care to.”
Treaty and First Peoples Minister Gabrielle Williams described the proposal as speculation and insisted the Andrews government was yet to settle on the bill’s final version.
“It’s not particularly helpful to comment ahead of time when work is very much still underway, when consultation is still underway, and when it’s not a final position,” she told reporters.