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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 6 Hansard (24 May) . . Page.. 1718 ..

The Assembly voted-

Ayes, 7  		Noes, 8

Mr Cornwell  		Mr Berry
Mr Hird  		Mr Corbell
Mr Humphries  		Mr Hargreaves
Mr Kaine  		Mr Osborne
Mr Moore  		Mr Quinlan
Mr Smyth  		Mr Rugendyke
Mr Stefaniak  		Mr Stanhope
 			Ms Tucker

MR RUGENDYKE (7.53): Mr Speaker, I seek leave to move the amendment circulated in my name.

Leave granted.

MR RUGENDYKE: I move:

It may well be the case, Mr Speaker, that there are good reasons for mandatory sentencing to be used for offences such as rape, murder and persistent horrendous offences, but in my view certainly not in respect of children and juveniles. I will be supporting the motion together with my amendment. I commend the amendment to members.

MR STANHOPE (Leader of the Opposition) (7.54): I would like to respond briefly to Mr Rugendyke. I indicated to Mr Rugendyke before that I see, to some extent, the value of what he is saying. In terms of my objection to mandatory sentencing, I believe that it impacts most harshly and most unfairly on juveniles.

I think some of the case examples that we are all aware of are quite horrendous in their impact on young people. Young people who have stolen biscuits or petrol or who have been involved in very minor property crime have found themselves locked up for a year on their third offence. The implications and the impact are simply horrendous. As we all know, in the case of one young person it resulted in him committing suicide. So I understand the extent to which Mr Rugendyke is responding to the particularly harsh impact of the law on young people, and I respect him for his point of view in relation to that.

I object, however, quite fundamentally to mandatory sentencing, and I am inclined to maintain my position of objection to mandatory sentencing, whilst respecting Mr Rugendyke's view in relation to the position he puts.

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