Nationals MP says rural towns have become a dumping ground for violent criminals

Towns in rural Western Australia have become dumping grounds for violent criminals released on bail without mandatory electronic monitoring devices in place, according to national MLA Peter Rundle.

Under the Domestic Violence Legislation Reform Act 2024, repeat and serious domestic violence offenders in Western Australia must be subject to mandatory electronic monitoring.

However, it emerged that GPS trackers did not work outside the Perth metropolitan area and judges were not required to impose this requirement.

Mr Rundle said cases were emerging of violent criminals being released into rural communities where they could roam freely without any GPS tracking.

Domestic violence and family violence victim Kelly North told ABC Radio Perth she was shocked when she was notified 48 hours in advance that the alleged perpetrator had applied for bail.

The man was granted bail by a District Court judge and allowed to live in the regional town of Katanning without electronic monitoring.

“I immediately had a heart attack,” he said.

“I definitely (didn’t) feel safe, and then I kept moving around to avoid staying in the same place for too long, in case someone found out where I was.

“I wasn’t even going to see my friends, and my friends who knew the situation said, ‘No, you can’t come to our house, because what if he follows you, you’re putting us at risk, too’.”

Ms North said it was absurd for the alleged perpetrator to be granted bail without electronic monitoring because he could be anywhere while he was still in hiding.

“It’s pretty awful because now I’m going to get emotional, it happens every day,” she said.

“I actually don’t know what’s going to happen next.

“If I have to go to an appointment with my psychologist or my doctor or something that I look around for all the time, it’s crazy and I wouldn’t believe it if I wasn’t going through it.”

Mr Rundle said the Government’s commitment to mandatory electronic monitoring of high-risk violent offenders was now nonsense, leaving victims and the general public in vulnerable situations.

“It expresses the belief that violent criminals are allowed to roam free in rural WA because of the courts’ inability to exercise so-called compulsory surveillance powers under the Act,” he said.

“Frankly, the law needs to be changed before any more innocent people are harmed.

“In the latest case, a violent criminal who repeatedly breached a suspended prison sentence, protective bail conditions and orders prohibiting violence was allowed to roam free in Katanning, which is home to more than 4,000 people and was somehow judged to be a suitable place for someone accused of rape to hang out between court dates?”

Prime Minister Roger Cook told parliament that if it was not safe to release a person into the community, he expected that person should not be released.

He said he was advised in this case that the defendant was not subject to electronic monitoring as he was not subject to a domestic violence restraining order before the alleged offense was committed.

“It is the court’s responsibility to consider whether a person should be granted bail and the conditions believed to be applicable to ensure public safety,” he said.

“Electronic monitoring is one of many tools that can be used to monitor serial domestic violence offenders, alongside daily reporting to the police, home detention, and similar conditions.

“I emphasize again that this government has strengthened the law to require the monitoring of serious offenders and we continue to fund tools such as electronic monitoring so that judicial officers can enforce them.”

Shadow Minister for Domestic Violence Prevention Libby Mettam told ABC Radio Perth that while GPS monitoring is mandatory for repeat serious domestic violence and family violence offenders, victims are put at risk when offenders are released without electronic monitoring.

“This government has not fulfilled its promise,” he said.

“We were told that the courts would mandate electronic monitoring, but clearly that is not happening.

“We were also told that this government would tip the scales in favor of the surviving victims, but what we are seeing is that this government is putting the freedom of the perpetrators before the victims.

“Obviously this is a case of the government not delivering on what they promised and the trial judge commenting that he was basically emphasizing the fact that it wasn’t mandatory.”