News that Bourke Street terrorist Hassan Khalif Shire Ali was on bail when he launched his murderous Bourke Street rampage last week throws the law and order debate wide open again with barely a week to go until polling day.

It’s a recurring nightmare for state governments, going all the way back to the murder of Jill Meagher in Brunswick in 2012 by a man who should have been in jail.

Sean Price was on a court-imposed supervision order in 2015 when he stabbed Masa Vukotic in Doncaster and later raped a woman at a Christian bookshop in Sunshine.

Dimitrious Gargasoulas was on bail when he used a car to kill six people in Bourke Street in January last year.

Every time a high-profile outrage is committed by someone who is supposed to be under the supervision of the justice system, it seems, there are reviews and reforms and "crackdowns".

But it keeps happening.

That’s the point Matthew Guy will use to hammer Premier Daniel Andrews every hour of every day until the state votes on November 24.

It does not bother Guy that Shire Ali was on bail for traffic offences, not violent crimes, or that no police officer would oppose bail for something so minor.

Indeed, Guy and his shadow attorney-general John Pesutto have doubled down, insisting that yes, Shire Ali would have been in jail for failing to show up to court - repeatedly - over speeding and driving without a licence and driving an unregistered car.

The Coalition has already promised to introduce a “one strike and you’re out” policy, in which those who breach bail - such as Shire Ali - would face remand.

“Let me make this clear, under the bail policy we announced last year, [Shire Ali] would not have been free,” Mr Pesutto said.

Most Victorian drivers would not be so reckless, but as Attorney-General Martin Pakula pointed out, there are more than 18,000 cases a year of people driving on a cancelled licence. That's a lot of people to lock up if they don't show up to court.

Is Guy politicising the events, as Pakula insists? Of course.

The finer details of this debate probably won’t mean much to voters either, who expect that when somebody comes into contact with the justice system, then any threat they pose will be identified and the community kept safe.

It’s a hard sell to explain the complexity and difficulty of bail and parole decisions, but easy to talk about soft courts and bail laws, so Andrews’ task over the next few days is tough, while Guy has a straightforward job to do.

The Premier and Labor had been coasting through this election campaign up until last Friday afternoon. But Matthew Guy now has the means to put an end to Labor's dream run.