7ANo bail for certain offences without high degree of confidence

7A No bail for certain offences without high degree of confidence in accused person (1) This section applies to the following offences: (a) murder; (c) an offence against the Misuse of Drugs Act 1990 punishable by a term of imprisonment for 7 years or more; (d) an offence against the Customs Act 1901 (Cth) in relation to narcotic goods punishable by a term of imprisonment for 10 years or more; (da) an offence against Division 307 of the Criminal Code (Cth) punishable by a term of imprisonment for 10 years or more; (db) an offence against section 36, 37, 38 or 55 of the Serious Crime Control Act 2009; (dc) an offence against section 54, 103A, 242 or 243(1) of the Criminal Code; (dd) an offence against section 181 of the Criminal Code, or section 120 of the Domestic and Family Violence Act 2007, if the person accused of the offence has, at any time before the date of that offence, been found guilty of any of the following offences (the previous offence): Bail Act 1982 11 (i) the offence of murder; (ii) an offence against section 181, 188A, 189A, 208H, 208HA or 208HB of the Criminal Code; (iii) an offence against a law of a State or other Territory or another country that is similar to an offence mentioned in subparagraph (i) or (ii); (iv) an offence against section 192 of the Criminal Code, as in force before the commencement of Part 2 of the Criminal Justice Legislation Amendment (Sexual Offences) Act 2023; (de) a prescribed offence or serious offence (offence A) if the person accused of offence A is charged with committing offence A while on bail for a prescribed offence or serious offence (the previous offence); (dea)a prescribed offence or serious offence (offence AB) if the person accused of offence AB has, within the period of 2 years immediately preceding the date of the alleged commission of offence AB, been found guilty of 2 or more prescribed offences or serious offences, or any combination of them, for which a conviction was recorded; (df) a serious offence (offence B) if the person accused of offence B has, within the period of 10 years immediately preceding the date of the alleged commission of offence B, been found guilty of a serious violence offence (the previous offence); (dg) an offence where the accused person is the subject of an order made under section 40 of the Sentencing Act 1995 (the sentencing order) which may be breached if the person is convicted of the offence, unless: (i) the offence is a contravention of, or failure to comply with, an instrument of a legislative or administrative character; or (ii) the authorised member or court is of the opinion that the offence is so minor that a court is unlikely to regard it as a breach of the suspended sentence; (dh) an offence against section 120 of the Domestic and Family Violence Act 2007 (offence C), if the person accused of offence C has, within the period of 2 years immediately preceding the date of the alleged commission of offence C, been found guilty of a DVO contravention offence (the Bail Act 1982 12 previous offence); (e) a serious violence offence; (f) a serious sexual offence. (2) An authorised member or court must not grant bail to a person accused of an offence to which this section applies unless the person satisfies the member or court that bail should be granted. See sections 24 and 24A in relation to the matters to be considered by an authorised member or court in determining whether bail should be granted. (2AA) The matter mentioned in section 24(1)(aa) is the paramount consideration when the authorised member or court is determining whether bail should be granted to the person. Note for subsection (2AA) Section 24(1)(aa) provides for consideration of the risk to the safety of the community if a person accused of an offence is released on bail. (2AB) Even if an authorised member or court is satisfied, as mentioned in subsection (2), that bail should be granted, the member or court must not grant bail to the person unless the member or court has a high degree of confidence, when considered in isolation from matters mentioned in sections 24 and 24A, that the person will not, if released on bail: (a) commit a prescribed offence or a serious violence offence; or (b) otherwise endanger the safety of the community. (2A) Despite subsection (1), subsections (2), (2AA) and (2AB) do not apply to a person who is assessed to be suitable to participate in: (a) a program of rehabilitation prescribed by the Regulations; or (b) a program declared by the Minister under section 85A(1) of the Domestic and Family Violence Act 2007 to be a rehabilitation program. (3) The requirement for bail cannot be dispensed with for a person accused of an offence to which this section applies and section 9(2) does not apply with respect to any such offence. (4) In this section: DVO contravention offence, see section 4 of the Domestic and Family Violence Act 2007. Bail Act 1982 13 previous offence includes an offence committed before the commencement of section 6 of the Bail Amendment Act 2015. sentencing order includes an order made before the commencement of section 6 of the Bail Amendment Act 2015.