Page 2402 - Week 08 - Thursday, 5 August 2021
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We should reflect on what has occurred and what may have been prevented, Mr Assistant Speaker. We should consider whether we have done everything that is possible to achieve what Bill Shorten once called the most important job of any government—the safety of our people. It is clear that this government has not, but today the Canberra Liberals will do something.
I present today the Bail Amendment Bill and its explanatory statement. Whilst this bill is not a complete review of the bail system that is needed and the reform that we have been calling for, it does do an important thing—it helps protect our frontline community service workers. It offers some protection to our first responders, especially our police, but also the ambos, the firies, corrections officers and emergency services workers. There is a protection that if a person is charged with assaulting one of our frontline workers, they will not automatically get bail.
The bill achieves this with one line. It adds the crime of assaulting frontline community service providers to the list of offences where there is no presumption for bail. It is a simple change, but with a serious consequence. Bail is not guaranteed if you commit that crime. It also sends a profound and important message to our essential workers: if someone attacks you, we have got your back.
I accept the fact that, as this bill extends the list of offences to which the presumption for bail does not apply, it does have human rights implications; and I have addressed those in the explanatory statement accompanying the bill. The amendment does not remove the ability to be granted bail completely, but it does remove the presumption that bail will be granted. It does not go so far as to place the offence in the category where there is a presumption against bail, as is the case for murder or very serious drugs charges in section 9C of the Bail Act.
Most importantly, this amendment recognises that, just as there are rights of liberty for the accused, there is a right for our frontline workers, our police, to be safe. That is why we are tabling this bill today. It is a right that we have staunchly argued over many years. It is a right that our police are now demanding to be protected, and it is a right recognised by this quote:
The most important job of every government is the safety of our people. I know that bail laws are different in every state. But what Australians in every state cannot understand is that, when offenders have done horrific things, when the red light should be flashing, they are out, they are on bail.
That was from Bill Shorten when he was leader of the federal Labor Party, in a speech that he gave as part of a condolence motion on the tragic events in Bourke Street in Melbourne some years ago.
The AFPA have recently asked a series of questions in a public statement: “Should bail procedures better protect first responders in the ACT? Should the commission of alleged violent crimes preclude bail being granted? Does the ACT government have more of an obligation to protect the employees it contracts from the AFP to police in Canberra? We think so and have already started calling on Australia’s elected
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