Senator Lidia Thorpe is calling for the Albanese government to fund therapeutic bail accommodation and services, to give people somewhere safe and supportive to go on bail, which would allow magistrates to grant bail to more people.

Thorpe will soon release a Parliamentary Budget Office costing, showing that providing such services is much more affordable than incarcerating people on remand.

She has renewed the call in light of a new report from the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) confirming that increasingly harsh bail laws across Australia are driving the rising number of First Nations people being jailed before trial,

The AIC study found that between 2019 and 2025, 36 punitive amendments to bail laws were introduced across states and territories, making it significantly harder for people to get bail and remain in the community while awaiting court.

The report shows First Nations people are more likely to be placed on strict bail conditions.

The findings come amid record-high deaths in custody, with the AIC recently reporting that 2024–25 saw the highest number of First Nations deaths in custody since records began in 1979. 

For more information on reforms Senator Thorpe is calling for, see bottom of this email.

AIC report will be available here at 8pm December today, Wednesday February 4.

Quotes attributable to Lidia Thorpe, Gunnai, Gunditjmara and Djab Wurrung independent Victorian Senator:

"This research shows what our people already know and have calling out. Punitive bail laws across the country are driving First Peoples, including children, into prisons.

It shows how much harm these ‘tough on crime’ laws are causing First Peoples. We are being disproportionately targeted, criminalised and locked up. Many people do not make it out alive. 

Under the Albanese Government, we’ve seen the highest number of our people die in custody since records began in 1979. 

Punitive bail laws are driving us into prison and the more of us who are locked up the more of us die in custody.

Recently the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and the Universal Period Review condemned Australia for human rights abuses in prison, and the disproportionate criminalisation of First People. They were particularly scathing about bail laws.

If the Albanese government is serious about reducing deaths in custody, it must reverse this dangerous trend towards punitive bail laws."

Bail support services.

“I’ve been calling on the Federal Government to urgently fund therapeutic bail support services; safe places people can go while on bail to access housing, health care, disability support and rehabilitation, instead of being thrown into a jail cell.

This would save lives, help people get back on track, and actually improve community safety. 

And it would be far cheaper. I have recently received a Parliamentary Budget Office costing showing that safe bail accommodation and support services cost far less than incarceration.

Right now, if we just look at the cost of jailing children, this is over $3,300 a day per child. Governments now waste around $1.5 billion every year locking up kids as young as ten, and the cost is rising.

If even a small part of the money we’re wasting on locking people up on remand was redirected into community-led, culturally safe support, we could break cycles of harm instead of entrenching them. 

The Prime Minister will try to say this is just a state and territory issue. That’s not good enough. The Commonwealth has the constitutional power to set national minimum standards across the criminal legal system, and it must use it.

The Minister for Indigenous Australians has said reducing remand is a priority, but she has made no real progress. In fact, states and territories are signalling they’re about to get even tougher.

The government must follow through on its commitment to impose funding consequences on jurisdictions that drive up incarceration. Now is the time to act.

Countries like Scotland are dismantling prisons and investing in community, and crime is falling.

We’ve known what works for decades. What’s missing is courage from Canberra. Ending the over-incarceration of First Peoples and deaths in custody must be a priority, and can start with fixing bail.”

ENDS 

FURTHER INFORMATION ON JUSTICE POLICY 

Senator Thorpe is calling on the Albanese Government to take real action to address the incarceration and deaths in custody crisis. Her priorities include:

• A national oversight body to monitor and drive the implementation of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody and the Bringing Them Home report.

• A framework of penalties for states and territories that breach Closing the Gap targets — particularly where states enact policies that drive the criminalisation and incarceration of First Peoples.

• Legislated national minimum standards for prisons and youth justice, aligned with UNDRIP, OPCAT, CPRD, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and other relevant international human rights instruments. These standards would include the removal of hanging points; banning spit hoods, solitary confinement, and shackling during childbirth and end-of-life care; and preventing children being jailed in police watch houses. The constitutional external affairs power allows the Commonwealth to legislate such standards.

• An urgent National Cabinet meeting on deaths in custody and youth incarceration.

• Bail reform: Legislate Pocum’s Law as a minimum standard nationwide, and invest in community-controlled bail support services, including culturally safe bail accommodation for children. Implement the recommendations of the SCAG bail and remand report.

• Community-led first responders: Expand First Nations-led crisis response services to reduce police contact and incarceration.

• Real justice reinvestment: Scale up and properly fund justice reinvestment, with long-term, flexible funding directed to communities.

• Healthcare in prisons: Guarantee equitable access healthcare in custody, including Medicare, PBS medicines, disability supports, and culturally safe care in custody. Resource First Nations Community-controlled health organisations (ACCHOs)  to deliver prison healthcare and improve access to medicines. Improve disability screening for people in contact with the criminal legal system.

• Increased and sustained funding for legal assistance services, to ensure First Peoples can access justice.