Page 3585 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 21 November 2007
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This issue of leniency within our system has been raised on a number of occasions, and it is of concern even to people such as the DPP, police and other people in contact with our system on a regular basis.
Offences that are dealt with by our superior courts—in our case that is the Supreme Court—are serious. They are the most serious offences in most instances, and they need to be dealt with in an appropriate manner that is consistent with that of other states and territories. Indeed, recent statistics—and I saw the quarterly reports for the last quarter, and going back several quarters—show that the 30 per cent figure is pretty consistent and that, if anything, the figure is probably a bit lower now. In the third-last quarter, four out of 18 people found guilty by the Supreme Court were sentenced to a full term of imprisonment.
In the following quarter, the figure was four out of 22. More recently, and interestingly, the figure was eight out of 26. So if we correlate that information, it is even less than 30 per cent. The trend is not changing, and I think it is crucial that we do have consistency. To me, it is ridiculous that someone who commits an armed robbery in Queanbeyan could expect to spend significant time in prison, yet someone committing a very similar crime in the ACT may well get off with a suspended sentence.
The general policy needs to be looked at across the nation. I was pleased that shadow attorneys-general have called on the current Attorney-General to push for uniform sentencing laws. Their communique stated:
Sentencing laws differ significantly and we have a responsibility as elected representatives to push for law reform in this important area.
… there was clear consensus that there are strong legal and policy reasons to progress this as a new initiative. Nationally consistent sentencing laws should form an integral part of proposals towards uniform criminal laws.
That will take time. We have not quite got uniform criminal laws yet; that proposal has been around for 15 years. All of us will probably be out of this place before that occurs, but there are very strong legal, policy and practical reasons to implement sensible laws that have been introduced across the border. I must say they are laws that have been introduced by the New South Wales Labor government. These laws were introduced during the time that Bob Carr was the Premier of New South Wales. They are laws that have been in place for a number of years and we have seen how effective they have been.
I have talked to a number of practitioners who practise in both New South Wales and the ACT. They understand the laws and have adjusted to them. They say they work quite well and that there is considerable merit in them. These people often scratch their heads when asked why we do not have similar laws and why our system is so lenient. It is certainly something that causes great angst among the public, and especially among police, victims and others who regularly come into contact with the system.
I will go through some of the salient features of the bill. It is very similar to a bill that I introduced in 2005. Some slight changes have been made in order to update it in
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