Indigenous and legal groups have commended the Victorian government for introducing bail reform legislation but argue that it does not go far enough.

On Tuesday, Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes introduced legislation into parliament, in a bid to reduce unnecessary remand for people accused of low-level offending.

As reported by AAP, low level offenders will now find it easier to receive bail and people who committed crimes that would be unlikely to result in a custodial sentence would not be remanded in jail whilst awaiting sentencing.

"These offences were introduced in 2013 and have been shown to disproportionately impact women, children and Aboriginal people with no clear deterrent benefit or improvement to community safety," the government said.

Bail reforms would also redefine the term "unacceptable risk" so a court wouldn't refuse bail if there was a risk of minor reoffending.

However, various legal groups have argued that whilst scrapping provisions are a step in the right direction, they do not go far enough.

The Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service (VALS) said in a statement that it was "concerning" the government were proposing only tinkering with the reverse onus provision, given it is incompatible with the Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act.

"We are also concerned that the Victorian Government's Bill will make the Bail Act more complicated, rather than making it simple and clear so that it can function more effectively," the statement said.

VALS CEO and Yorta Yorta and Narrandjeri woman, Nerita Waight, said these changes were a small step in the right direction.

"This is a first small step towards ending the damage that Victoria's bail laws have done over the last 5 years particularly," Ms Waight said.

"There has been 3 bail bills before this in the last decade and the Government has admitted that there was mistakes in all of them. They should accept that they probably haven't got this one right either and set a timeline for reviewing the Bill in the legislation."

Referencing Veronica Nelson, whose death in custody in 2020 was deemed preventable by the coroner and led to calls for an urgent review of the bail act, Miss Waight said Nelson's family had played a significant part in the reforms.

"Veronica is the reason the Government is changing the bail laws. All the Parliament should centre her story when they debate the Bill and be respectful of her family," she said.

"Veronica's family have been clear on asking for changes to the bail laws and I hope the Parliament will ensure the Bill reflects the family's wishes.

"There are some good changes thanks to the advocacy of Veronica's family, especially in relation to removing bail offences, making it easier for children to get bail, and changes to reduce the over incarceration of Aboriginal people."

The bill delays implementation of reforms by six months, which the Human Rights Law Centre argues will see thousands of people continue to be funnelled into Victoria's prisons.

The family of Miss Nelson have previously called on the Victorian government to implement "urgent, wholesale changes" to the bail laws in the next three months and for these reforms to known as Poccum's (Veronica Nelson's childhood nickname) Law.

Amala Ramarathinam, Acting Manager Lawyer at the Human Rights Law Centre, said the Andrews Government has acknowledged the failures of the bail laws, but was still failing to take all the action required.

"...it is delaying these changes to the Bail Act by six months, and the changes don't go far enough to stop inflicting unnecessary harm on people, especially Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and women experiencing disadvantage, or prevent a death in custody," Ms Ramarathinam said.

"If the Andrews Government is serious about addressing its botched bail laws and meeting its obligations under the Victorian Charter of Human Rights, it must implement Poccum's Law.

"This includes scrapping the reverse onus provisions, creating a presumption in favour of bail, explicitly requiring that a person must not be locked up if they're unlikely to receive a sentence of imprisonment, and removing the offence of failing to answer bail."

The Law Institute of Victoria's president, Tania Wolff, also said they were pleased but more work on the reforms were required.

"We are pleased to see substantial changes announced in relation to children which we hope will result in fewer vulnerable children having their lives destroyed by custodial incarceration," Wolff said in a statement.

"We also welcome the proposed repeal of bail offences that have shunted often low-level offenders into situations where they, rather than the prosecution, are burdened with the onus of proving why they should be granted bail at very high thresholds. However, we would like to see the government go further."

Since the bail laws were amended in 2018, the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women in prison has almost doubled, whilst currently 42.1% of people in prison are unsentenced and awaiting a court hearing or trial.