Sentencing claims are wrong

Greg Barns (Opinion 7/6) is plain wrong in many of his claims about the government’s proposed statutory minimum sentences for assaults involving gross violence.

 The policy does not involve mandatory sentencing.  The government has made clear all along that there will be provision for exceptional circumstances, and we have asked the Sentencing Advisory Council to advise on its scope.  This is so that exactly the sort of issues the Mr Barns raises, such as mental illness or intellectual disability, can be taken into account.

 The statutory minimum sentence will apply to the most serious kinds of assaults, where serious injury is caused and the offender has a high degree of culpability, such as where an offender plans in advance to cause serious injury or continues to violently attack the victim after they are incapacitated.

 Again, the government has asked the SAC to advise on the definition of gross violence to ensure that it is targeted at the sort of horrific attacks for which the offence is intended.

Parliament on behalf of the community is entitled to set the sentencing laws that the courts then apply to particular cases.  To deny that right to the community, as Mr Barns seeks to do, is to attack democracy rather than defend it.

Robert Clark, Attorney-General