Page 5351 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 16 November 2011
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agenda and priorities in this regard and does not intend to have its hand forced on what issues are of greater importance for the criminal justice system and the community generally.
An increase in maximum penalties for culpable driving offences and three grievous bodily harm offences forms the core of the government’s original proposal. The government has negotiated amendments to ensure that this core proposal is retained in the bill we are debating today. I am pleased that, with the support of Mrs Dunne and the Canberra Liberals, we have been able to achieve this important outcome for everyone in the community. I would like to indicate my thanks to Mrs Dunne for her willingness to negotiate on these matters; we will be able to achieve a reform which is important in the context of recent decisions by the Court of Appeal and in the light of matters raised by the Director of Public Prosecutions.
MR SESELJA (Molonglo—Leader of the Opposition) (10.38): I will just say a few words. Firstly, I think it is a very positive development that we will see some more appropriate laws in this area today. That is a result of a lot of hard work. I would like to pay tribute to Mrs Dunne and the work that she has done in looking at these issues over a period of time and coming up with some significant solutions. Mrs Dunne has shown the way on this; that is why we are in the position today where the Assembly will be endorsing the approach that Mrs Dunne has brought to it.
It is important that we think through all the consequences of changes in sentencing and changes in penalties. Unfortunately, the Attorney-General has been playing catch-up on this. He has not been genuinely prepared to do the work to get it right; that is why the Canberra Liberals could not support the legislation which was put forward by the government. There were some significant problems with that legislation, which we think would not have met community expectations. We would have seen, in some cases, an effective winding back in some areas. That was legislation that was not well thought through and was not well put together. I am really pleased that we will now get progress on this. Mrs Dunne has identified where some of the significant problems are, and she has done the work to make the case as to why these changes need to go through.
This is a very important day for the Assembly. It is an important move forward in terms of reforming legislation. The offences we are talking about here are very serious offences and the maximum penalties are in the worst possible cases. We are not talking about minor offences; we are not talking about someone inadvertently being caught up by a very harsh sentence. These are the most serious offences in these categories. It is appropriate that the Assembly say today that we believe that there needs to be a very strong deterrent and that there needs to be justice for the victims in these circumstances.
I pay tribute to Mrs Dunne. She has done an outstanding job. I am very pleased that, through her hard work, the government has now come on board and we will now get more appropriate legislation in this area.
MR RATTENBURY (Molonglo) (10.41): The Greens will not be supporting this bill today. As I said when the Assembly debated this issue last month, we hold the view
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