Indigenous woman’s mother accuses Labor of ‘trampling on our graves’ as Anthony Carbines disputes coroner’s findings
Victoria’s police minister is considering reintroducing bail offences scrapped by the government in 2023 in response to a high-profile coronial inquest into First Nations woman Veronica Nelson’s death.
Speaking to reporters outside parliament on Wednesday, Anthony Carbines disputed the coroner’s finding that the previous laws were a contributing factor to the death, in comments that sparked a rebuke from Nelson’s mother, who accused the government of being happy to “trample on our graves”.
Carbines would not rule anything out when it came to addressing what he described as a “merry-go-round” of offenders who repeatedly reoffend after being granted bail.
“We need to deal with those people who don’t respect the courts and don’t respect the opportunities they get and their freedom,” he told reporters.
When asked if this included reintroducing the offences that were repealed following the Nelson inquest, Carbines said: “Everything was on the table.”
He disagreed the government had repealed the offences of “breaching bail conditions” and “committing further offences while on bail” based on the coroner’s finding that they had a disproportionate impact on First Nations people, women and young people.
“Nup, I don’t accept that,” he said.
At the 2023 inquest, the coroner Simon McGregor found the state’s bail laws were a “complete, unmitigated disaster”, contributing to the death of Nelson, a proud Gunditjmara, Dja Dja Wurrung, Wiradjuri and Yorta Yorta woman in custody on January 2020. She had been refused bail for shop theft offences in December 2019.
The coroner said the Bail Act had a “discriminatory impact on First Nations people, resulting in grossly disproportionate rates of [First Nations people] remanded in custody, the most egregious of which affects alleged offenders who are Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander women”.
It was a view Carbines shared when the government repealed the offences in 2023, telling parliament they had “a disproportionate impact on women, Aboriginal people and people experiencing disadvantage”.
At the time, he also expressed his “profound and deepest sympathies” to Nelson’s family.
Her mother, Aunty Donna Nelson, said any attempt to reintroduce the offences would be a “betrayal” of Aboriginal women and mothers who have “suffered at the hands of racist and discriminatory laws”.
She accused the government of using her daughter’s death to promote a “fair and just” bail system but were now working to “undermine these reforms to improve their polling numbers”.
“It seems like my daughter and the Aboriginal community is only worthy for this government when it is convenient for them to make them look good, otherwise they are quite happy to trample on our graves,” Nelson said.
Nerita Waight, the chief executive of the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service, who represented Nelson’s partner during the inquest, accused Carbines of attempting to “rewrite history”.
Carbines also appeared to contradict the premier, Jacinta Allan, who on Tuesday said the state’s bail laws were under review.
He said there was no formal review under way and the government was always looking at “what more we can do to keep the community safe”.
Allan denied Carbines was intentionally undermining her with his comments.
The shadow attorney general, Michael O’Brien, said the premier was “driven by polls, politics and panic” as he called for the reintroduction of the bail offences.
The government last year introduced a new offence for committing a serious crime while on bail, which came into effect in December.
Crime has emerged as a major issue in the 8 February byelections in Werribee and Prahran, where a non-life-threatening stabbing on Wednesday morning on Chapel Street was highlighted by the Liberals in parliament during question time.
Allan has denied the bail laws backpedalling is linked to her party’s fight to defend the seat of Werribee or poor polling showing Labor’s primary vote dropping to 22%.
