The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women's Alliance has expressed "deep concern and disappointment" at the Victorian government's 2025 State Budget, which allocates over $1 billion for a new prison, while offering "only partial and delayed reform" to the state's "punitive bail laws that continue to disproportionately harm Aboriginal women".

On Thursday NATSIWA noted that despite years of advocacy, coronial recommendations, and calls from community, Victoria's proposed bail reform "still fails to deliver full repeal" of reverse-onus provisions, "the very measures that have led to the highest rates of Aboriginal women's incarceration in the country".

NATSIWA chief executive Wendy Anders said the laws "continue to punish poverty and disadvantage — not crime — and reinforce a cycle of criminalisation that disproportionately affects women fleeing violence".

"The government's priorities are clear: build prisons before building safety for Aboriginal women. This budget proves we are still not being heard," she said.

Recent statistics show that more than 90 per cent of Aboriginal women in Victorian prisons are unsentenced, many held in custody due to minor offences or breaches of bail linked to homelessness, poverty, and domestic violence. Many of these women are mothers and survivors of abuse — not threats to public safety, NATSIWA noted.

The Alliance welcomed the announcement that some bail laws will be amended to reduce pressure on the justice system, but warned the changes "do not go far enough, nor fast enough", to dismantle the systemic injustices still embedded in the bail system, noting that the continuation of any reverse-onus provisions keeps Aboriginal women at risk of unnecessary incarceration.

"We do not need another prison. We need investment in culturally safe housing, mental health care, and frontline family violence services — all led by our communities," Ms Anders said.

The decision to invest in carceral infrastructure while Aboriginal children continue to be removed at alarming rates, and Aboriginal women remain the fastest-growing prison population, reflects a dangerous misalignment of public safety and state priorities.

NATSIWA is calling on the Victorian Government to: Fully repeal all reverse-onus bail laws impacting low-level and non-violent offences; redirect funds from prison expansion into community-led, preventative services; co-design justice policy with Aboriginal women, Elders, and community experts; and deliver on recommendations from coronial inquests and Royal Commissions

"This is a defining moment. Will Victoria be a state that listens to its First Nations women, or continues to imprison us for being poor, vulnerable, and over-policed?" Ms Anders said.

NATSIWA said it "stands with all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women demanding not just reform — but justice, safety, and freedom".