Concerning and unnecessary: Bar Association rejects premier's call for more changes to bail

23/02/2015

The Australian Government and the Government of New South Wales have released the Martin Place Siege Joint Commonwealth - New South Wales Review. During the press conference announcing the report, Premier Mike Baird foreshadowed further changes to the Bail Act. He said: "If someone is identified as a terror suspect and ... they are charged with a serious offence, I have a view they should not be provided with bail in that circumstance".

The Bar Association responded yesterday when President Jane Needham SC told The Australian's Nicola Berkovic that the proposal "undermines basic principles of our justice system by removing the ability of the courts to consider all the circumstances of a particular case when considering bail". Stephen Odgers SC, chair of the Criminal Law Committee, also dismissed them as unnecessary.