28B - Domestic Violence Electronic Monitoring - Update

On 14 March 2025, the Bail Act was amended to include s70A, namely that a Registrar must not make a Bail decision.

This reform comes following significant changes to the Bail Act in October 2024, where section 28B was inserted. 

Section 28B of the Bail Act requires that anyone who is charged with a Serious Domestic Violence Offence and is granted bail must be subject to electronic monitoring. 

A Serious Domestic Violence Offence is an offence pursuant to the Crimes Act 1900 with a maximum penalty of 14 years imprisonment or more, committed against an intimate partner. Examples of this include sexual intercourse without consent or choking with the intent to render someone unconscious.

Intimate partner means a person who is or has, been married to, or been a de facto partner of, the first person, or has or has had an intimate personal relationship with the first person (whether or not of a sexual nature).

The electronic monitoring, pursuant to 28B, is carried out by Community Corrections when this provision is enlivened. Whilst Bail Applications for other offences can offer electronic monitoring, the applicant has the burden of arranging the monitoring in those circumstances.

Section 28B(2) states that Electronic Monitoring is required “unless the bail authority is satisfied sufficient reasons exist, in the interests of justice, to justify not imposing the condition.” The “sufficient reasons in the interests of justice to justify not imposing the condition” are quite narrow and the case law is limited. It will be an interesting space to watch, to see what Judgments offer.

It is important to understand that these provision apply to offences to are alleged to have occurred before the amendments came into place on 11 October 2024.

Should you have any questions about this, please do not hesitate to contact our Criminal Law solicitors.

Benjamin Brown, Solicitor

The contents of this publication are for reference purposes only. This publication does not constitute legal advice and should not be relied upon as legal advice. Specific legal advice should always be sought separately before taking any action based on this publication.