Question Time

Sentencing Act Reform

Mr MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Leader of the Opposition) (14:35): My question is to the Attorney-General. Has the Attorney-General instructed parliamentary counsel to draft amendments to ensure that convicted paedophiles cannot serve their sentence on court-ordered home detention? With your leave, Mr Speaker, and that of the house, I would like to make a brief explanation.

Leave granted.

Mr MALINAUSKAS: I am advised that earlier today the government released a media statement saying, and I quote:

…the Marshall Liberal Government will return to Parliament with a well-prepared piece of legislation which deals with the far-reaching problems within the Sentencing Act…

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General) (14:35): I welcome the question from the Leader of the Opposition and confirm that the Marshall Liberal government is working hard to reform the Sentencing Act 2017, which has been highlighted as having significant flaws from the former Labor government. We spent, on this side of the house—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN: —two years fighting for amendments to home detention law.

Mr Malinauskas: You voted for it.

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN: Well, obviously the Leader of the Opposition has some kind of selective memory malfunction.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, members on my left and right!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The leader and the member for Badcoe, order!

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN: What happened was for two years—

Mr Picton interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Kaurna!

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN: —we argued, from the opposition position at the time, the importance of ensuring that home detention should not be available to murderers, terrorists and people who commit serious sexual offences. For two years, the then government made it very clear that they would not agree to that. Finally—

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Point of order.

The SPEAKER: Point of order, Deputy Premier, please. The Deputy Premier will be seated for one moment. There is a point of order from the member for West Torrens.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Debate, sir. The question was about whether parliamentary counsel had been instructed.

The SPEAKER: I have the point of order. I will be listening carefully. I have allowed the Attorney-General some preamble. I ask that she please stick to the substance of the question, and I ask that she be heard in silence so I can hear the answer.

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN: Indeed, the pretence of the opposition to now give a toss about the inequities and the loopholes that face us in the sentencing law—

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Point of order, sir: that's debate. Talking about the opposition is debate.

The SPEAKER: I have the point of order for debate. With respect to the member for West Torrens, there was a fair bit in the question. There were facts introduced into the house. I do accept that in that most recent remark the Deputy Premier perhaps could not have gone there. Again, Deputy Premier, I respectfully ask you to keep to the substance of the question. However, there were facts introduced into the question; therefore, I would anticipate quite a broad answer on what can be a very complex area of law. I ask the Deputy Premier to please keep to the substance of the question.

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN: The position is very clear. Since coming into office, even before coming into office, this government has made it absolutely clear that, where there are deficiencies in the Sentencing Act and the new sentencing law that was introduced by the former government, we will remedy it. Immediately after coming into office and identifying deficiencies in this area, we consulted with the advisory council on this matter only to find—can you believe this?—that when the former government introduced the Sentencing Bill 2016—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, members on my left!

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN: —they hadn't even consulted the Sentencing Advisory Council.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, members on my right!

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN: They had not even consulted them. So we are concerned about where there are deficiencies, where there are failings, in relation to the law reform in this area, and we are committed to remedying them. One of them was to take up a report of Mr Brian Martin, who recommended that, in relation to serious sexual offenders, the suppression of the name of the offender should not be continued. But guess what happened?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN: In light of the former government's own colleague, of course, being charged with serious sexual offences, no, they wouldn't consider that.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Point of order.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: There is a point of order. Before I hear the point of order, I call—

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Sir, if this isn't debate, what is?

The SPEAKER: I have the point of order. I again ask the Deputy Premier to come back to the substance of the question, but before she does I call the following members to order: the member for Badcoe and the member for Kaurna. The Leader of the Opposition is warned and the Minister for Education is also warned. Deputy Premier.

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN: Thank you, Mr Speaker. In relation to the reforms that we're undertaking, that's the first one.

The SPEAKER: The member for Enfield has a point of order.

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN: The second one, of course, is that—

The SPEAKER: The Deputy Premier will be seated for one moment, please. Member for Enfield.