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The state amended the Bail Act in March to prioritise community safety and make it tougher to be granted bail for some offences, such as violent crimes. In the three months following changes, Victoria Legal Aid data showed a 29 per cent rise in the need for duty lawyers for adults and a 50 per cent rise for children in custody on remand. Indigenous women experienced the highest increase in the need for court-appointed lawyers, up 159 per cent. Other rises, of more than a third, affected people at risk of, or already experiencing, homelessness, or who live with a disability or health issue. Victoria Legal Aid’s criminal law executive director, Kate Bundrock, said the issues were being felt statewide and regional police jails were also being impacted.
