Page 2861 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 11 October 2022

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Our hearts go out to the families. Tragically, two young people have been killed in a collision that should never have happened.

How many more people need to die before the Attorney-General and ACT Chief Minister actually start doing their job and protect Canberrans from recidivist offenders and people committing crimes while on bail, good behaviour orders, or intensive correction orders?

That is what Mr Caruana said. The AFPA is calling again on the ACT Attorney-General to implement an independent review of bail and sentencing in the ACT. Mr Caruana said that the Attorney-General has continually failed Canberra and Canberrans by not conducting a review, despite evidence being provided to him that the system was not working. He said:

I’m angry and frustrated at the tokenism and gaslighting being employed by the Attorney-General as a shield from any oversight of his role.

Tom McLuckie, who put in a petition signed by 2,446 Canberrans, supported by Dr Paterson in her public statements, requested an independent review into the performance of the ACT judiciary in regard to sentencing in line with common and statutory laws. He said that sentencing is not meeting community expectations. He went on to say that if the Attorney-General does not wish for a review of the performance of the judiciary due to his own legal and personal bias, prejudices or political persuasions then he should be considered unfit for office and removed from his position by the Chief Minister. We went to those elements in the debate this morning.

This government have done a lot of reviews. They do a lot of bodies of work; they do a lot of hours. To finish here, where I finished in the debate this morning: why won’t they do it? Yes, there is work happening, but why do they want this ongoing trauma for the parents? That is what they are creating. By not doing this, they are creating more ongoing trauma for the parents of those victims. You are creating a loss in the judicial system for the frontline police. That is the consequence of your decision today if you do not support this call.

Be aware of that and be aware that the Federal Police Association are not going to stop their calls. Tom McLuckie, Andrew Corney, Janice Seary and others are not going to stop their calls. This will continue. They will continue their fight. They do not want to do that. It causes them more grief; it causes them more trauma. But your refusal to do that review that they are calling for is creating that situation.

As I said, it behoves us to say to ourselves, “Are we doing everything we can to prevent the sorts of traumas that we have seen affect the parents who were here today, and the sorts of traumas that we have seen in the media lately?” We can never stop crime happening; we can never stop everything happening. I am not trying to say that there is any silver bullet here, but is this an important and necessary step? In the view of the Australian Federal Police Association, representing 4,000 members, it is. In the view of the parents and the 2,500 people who signed that petition, it is. And in the view of the opposition it is.


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