The judge sentenced Dyland Dugdale, 25, to jail for four years. Credit: Supplied The measures form part of the government's response to a review of bail by Supreme Justice Paul Coghlan, which Premier Daniel Andrews ordered following the January 20 rampage in Melbourne's CBD when a man on bail for dangerous driving offences allegedly deliberately drove into crowds, killing six people and injuring dozens more. The new reforms include "a swag of new offences where there will be a presumption against bail", said Mr Pakula. These offences include rape, kidnapping, armed robbery, dangerous driving causing death or injury and persistent contravention of a family violence order. As Justice Coghlan's review revealed that many accused were appearing at courts on multiple sets of bail, often on serious burglary or driving offences, the laws will be overhauled to remand anyone who commits serious indictable offences while on bail, summons, parole, under sentence or at large.

"There is always a balance between community safety and presumption of innocence in bail decisions," Mr Pakula said. "What this report ensures is that community safety will be given a higher priority than ever before in our state." Mr Pakula acknowledged the reforms would put greater pressure on Victoria's rapidly expanding prison population, but he would not say what the new bail conditions might cost to enforce. While the new Ravenhall prison complex will add another 1000 prison beds to the system at the end of the year, "the government is constantly reviewing our prison capacity". Victoria already has record numbers of prisoners on remand - there were 2,625 people on remand on 23 March 2017, up from fewer than 1000 in 2010/2011, the review found. About a third of the adult male prison population in Victoria is on remand, 44 per cent of the women behind bars and roughly half the juvenile detention population. Bail is refused more often now than it was five years ago, up to one in three applications rejected in 2015/2-16 compared to one in five in 2011/12. Justice Coghlan observed that recent high-profile cases such as the murders of Jill Meagher and Luke Batty contributed to "increased risk aversion" in action taken by police and "other decision makers". "There has been a perceptible increase in remand numbers since the Gargasoulas incident which is revealed in the Corrections Victoria data over the last month," the report said.

While most references to the charges faced by Dimitrious Gargasoulas have been redacted from the two published Bail Review reports, Mr Pakula acknowledged that Bourke Street was "the catalyst for the thorough root-and-branch review of the bail system that the Coghlan review represents". Dimitrious Gargasoulas was granted bail by an out-of-sessions bail justice just days before he allegedly drove his car down Bourke Street, killing six and injuring more than 30 people. While the Coghlan review does recommend a reduced role for bail justices in the future, Mr Pakula refused to answer questions about what happened when Gargasoulas was granted bail. "The current processes, the coronial inquiry and the murder trial, have to play out without me speculating on what police may or may not have said in that police station on that particular night," Mr Pakula said. Justice Coghlan's review, filed in two separate reports, makes 37 recommendations for overhauling the bail system. While the government are acting now on the sentencing reforms proposed in the first report, the government will take longer to consider systemic changes proposed in the second report.

Courts and police will need to be consulted about Coghlan's call for a new bail and remand court that would operate daily from 9am to 10pm, which he argues would allow all serious matters to be heard before judges and magistrates and help clear the backlog of minor matters and summonses that clog up the court lists. Police Association secretary Wayne Gatt told the ABC the new legislation needed to be "strong and unambiguous" so they couldn't be watered down in the interpretation.



