Mandatory Bail Refusal and Higher Penalties for Prescribed Offences
Breach Bail, Go to Jail and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2026
Private Member's BillAssembly
Links to official parliament websites
Effects of this bill
If this bill passes, it means that:
Courts and police must refuse bail for defendants charged with a prescribed offence if they were already on bail, unlawfully at large, or failed to appear in court.
Defendants face a minimum of one year in prison if they commit a prescribed offence while on bail or unlawfully at large.
Children charged with a significant offence committed while on bail must prove to a high degree of confidence they will not reoffend before being released.
Courts and police must record the reasons if they decide to grant bail to a defendant charged with a prescribed offence committed while on bail.
Police are no longer required to consider alternatives to charging or arresting a child for certain offences or bail breaches; they may now choose whether to do so.
Courts cannot refer defendants to diversion or pre-sentence programs for offences against the Bail Act 1980.
The government declares that these bail and detention rules apply even if they are incompatible with the Human Rights Act 2019.