Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan on Friday defended the laws against claims by advocates who say the reforms aren't evidence-based and risk entrenching criminal behaviour.
"After listening to Victorians, to victims of crime, to the advice of Victoria Police, and to other representatives across the justice system, we needed to bring about a jolt to the system," she told reporters.
"We are seeing too much of a pattern of behaviour."
Australian retailers say there has been a spike in retail crime involving weapons in the past year, with incidents involving knives and blades up more than 40 per cent and and an increase in violent or serious events of 30 per cent.
One in four retail crime events in 2024 involved some form of violence, intimidation, threats, or physical or verbal abuse, and the top weapons used were knives and blades.
Victorian retailers recorded the country's largest jump in both violent and threatening retail crime events, followed by Western Australia and NSW.
Retail representatives say governments at all levels need to prioritise the issue and implement tougher penalties for offenders.
Victoria's parliament, in the early hours of Friday, passed the Bail Amendment Bill, which removes the principle of remand as a last resort for children, makes community safety an overarching principle for bail decisions and reintroduces bail offences.
Tougher bail tests for serious offences will take effect in three months.
Ms Allan conceded more people will be remanded but said there is capacity in the system to handle the influx.
Indigenous, legal and human rights groups say the laws will needlessly lock away more people - particularly Aboriginal women and children experiencing poverty, family violence and mental illness.
"The Allan government has rammed through dangerous and discriminatory bail laws which will deeply harm Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and breach human rights," they said in a joint statement.
Children's Commissioner Liana Buchanan expressed grave concern the laws will capture vulnerable young people in numbers beyond the small group of repeat, serious offenders.
"Bringing more children into custody entrenches patterns of offending in those young people and ultimately makes the community less safe," she said.
Maggie Munn from the Human Rights Law Centre said the laws condemn generations of children and adults to the trauma of imprisonment and risks more people dying behind bars.
Shadow Attorney-General Michael O'Brien labelled the changes weak as they didn't restore Victoria's bail laws to what they were a year ago.
Victoria tightened bail legislation in 2018 after James Gargasoulas drove into Melbourne's busy Bourke Street Mall while on bail, killing six people and injuring dozens more.
The laws were relaxed in 2024 after a coronial inquest into Indigenous woman Veronica Nelson's death in custody found the changes were an "unmitigated disaster".
The parliament this week passed laws to ban the sale and possession of machetes in Victoria from September 1 and expand police search powers for weapons in designated areas.
The crackdown comes after the state experienced a year of record-surging crime, with child offenders at their highest levels since 1993 and repeat offenders behind the overall increase.
Theft was the fastest-growing crime, with retail theft reaching record levels in 2024 as people resort to stealing groceries and clothing while cost-of-living pressures bite.
Car enthusiasts, meanwhile, are upping security for their prized possessions as tech-savvy thieves exploit vulnerabilities in electronic ignition systems amid surging car thefts.
Holden Commodore, especially V8-powered VFs, and certain car makes dating back to the 2010s are being targeted.
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