Daniel Andrews has announced an overhaul of Victoria’s bail laws after five people were killed and more than 30 injured in a rampage on Bourke Street on Friday.

The changes include introducing an after-hours magistrates court to hear bail requests at the weekend and after normal court hours, and a requirement that all bail applications on serious matters, and those opposed by police are heard by a magistrate, not a bail justice.

At a press conference in Melbourne on Monday morning, Andrews said work to create the after-hours or night court began over the weekend and on-call magistrates would be available to police “within days”.

The attorney general, Martin Pakula, said he spoke to the chief magistrate on Sunday to arrange for magistrates to be on call to staff the after-hours court, and Andrews said additional magistrates would be appointed.

Andrews also announced a wide-ranging review of the bail system, headed by a former director of public prosecutions, Paul Coghlan. The review would cover the best way to balance the presumption of innocence with community safety and the appropriateness of current tests of unacceptable risk, Andrews said.

“Nothing will be off the table,” Andrews said. “Nothing will be off-limits. This will be a full examination with the provision of urgent advice which will be provided to the government by 3 April for legislative change, for reform, for the sort of reform that has to be made to keep Victorians safe and the sort of change that we owe these victims and their families.”

Andrews said the proposed changes should not be seen as a slight on volunteer bail justices, and that their role would be examined in the Coghlan review.



“However, I think it is appropriate, given the events of last Friday, the community is right to expect that, particularly, complex matters and particularly matters that relate to violence ... we think it is an appropriate balance to strike where those more serious matters go before a court as opposed to going before a volunteer.”

Andrews said “no expense would be spared” on the reforms, which are expected to require the appointment of three new magistrates and could involve setting up video links for remote bail applications.

Victorian bail laws have undergone a series of changes over recent years, including the introduction of a presumption against bail for a range of violent offences, and stronger penalties for breaching bail.

Victoria’s opposition leader, Matthew Guy, proposed a different overhaul, suggesting: a presumption against remand for anyone charged with violent offences; a one-strike policy for anyone charged with breaching bail; and reinstating the offence of breaching bail for juvenille offenders.

Police have confirmed the names of three of those killed in the Bourke Street rampage: 33-year-old Matthew Si, 22-year-old Jess Mudie and 10-year-old Thalia Hakin.

A three-month-old baby and a 25-year-old Japanese student also died.

Fifteen remain in hospital, including Thalia’s mother and sister, with two in a critical condition.

On Sunday the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, laid flowers at a memorial which sprang up in Bourke Street after police removed the road blocks which had closed off the 1km crime scene for more than 12 hours.

Turnbull told Triple M on Monday that the incident highlighted the need to pay more attention to mental health.

“Speaking with [police commissioner] Graham Ashton yesterday, he made the point that now, a very, very large percentage of the cases police deal with on the streets involve people who have that combination of mental illness exacerbated or made worse by drugs and alcohol. It is a big and growing problem,” Turnbull said.

He said he was moved by the actions of police, paramedics and ordinary citizens who helped those injured on Friday.

The police commissioner, Graham Ashton, said he welcomed the proposed bail changes, provided magistrates would be available 24/7.

He threw his support behind police officers involved in attempted pursuits of Gargasoulas before he reached Bourke Street on Friday, saying they had to weigh their actions against community safety and did not know what Gargasoulas would do.

“Everything I am seeing is pointing to police members trying to make decisions on the run, split-second decisions, life and death decisions, about trying to apprehend an offender,” Ashton told Fairfax Radio on Monday.

“They’re feeling it this morning along with the rest of the community. They’ll be thinking: ‘Oh, if only I had made another decision’. But I am absolutely backing them 100% because you’re in a position where you make those calls, you make them in your best judgement, and certainly for these officers I’m seeing everything that tells me they are making decisions at the time about what’s the best for the community.”

He said it was up to the coroner to decide if police should have acted differently, and dismissed criticism that police should have rammed Gargasoulas’ car.

“It’s not our policy to ram cars... It would be a pretty exceptional thing to do,” he said.

A candlelight vigil for the victims has been planned for Federation Square on Monday night.