Victoria to ban private bail services for accused criminals after scandals

Privately operated bail services, including GPS monitoring, will be banned from Victoria after a series of scandals in which for-profit companies failed to properly track dangerous offenders or were corrupted by organised criminals.

The state government will announce on Wednesday that commercial operators will no longer be able to provide monitoring services worth tens of thousands of dollars a year that allow wealthy offenders to stay out of jail ahead of criminal proceedings.

The move comes after the collapse of two major operators in 2024-25, including one that, as revealed by The Age, failed to notify authorities it was no longer monitoring eight offenders under its control and another where the owner was implicated in a scheme to help put an alleged ringleader of Melbourne’s tobacco war back on the street.

“It is not appropriate for unregulated, unaccountable private companies to be offering electronically monitored bail services,” Attorney-General Sonya Kilkenny told this masthead.

“We’re ensuring electronic monitoring of bail is no longer outsourced to private operators who lack proper oversight and accountability.”

Alleged drug traffickers, gunmen, arsonists and money launderers are among the accused offenders who have been granted bail under the supervision of a private provider. Use of the services is approved by order of a judge or magistrate.

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These private services allowed wealthy offenders to pay to be monitored by GPS to enforce judge-ordered curfews and other restrictions.

Underworld sources have said the services were known to be wide open to abuse and manipulation, amounting to little more than a pay-for-bail scheme.