House of Assembly Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1) 54 1 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Question Time Sentencing Act Reform Sentencing Act Reform Mr MALINAUSKAS House of Assembly Croydon Leader of the Opposition Sentencing Act Reform Mr MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Leader of the Opposition) (14:51): My question is to the Attorney-General. When will the Attorney-General instruct parliamentary counsel to amend the Sentencing Act? The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN House of Assembly Bragg Deputy Premier Attorney-General Sentencing Act Reform The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General) (14:51): I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question because it seems as though he decided that his way of dealing with this defective Labor sentencing law was to— Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order, members on my left! The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN House of Assembly The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN: —come out and make an announcement— The Hon. S.C. Mullighan interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: The member for Lee is warned for a second time. The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN House of Assembly The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN: —followed by a political stunt. He had Kyam Maher, the sidekick, send me the draft bill last night without identifying whether there was any— Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! I am listening to this. The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN House of Assembly The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN: —comprehensive assessment of this. And do you know, even today— Mr Malinauskas interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Leader of the Opposition, please! The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN House of Assembly The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN: —after the opposition became absolutely clear that the victims of this serious crime that's currently being heard on the sentencing wave before the courts, their plea was, 'Please get it right. Please give considered determination of the matter in relation to reform in this area. Don't rush it through. Don't muck it up— Mr Malinauskas House of Assembly Mr Malinauskas: So when then? The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN House of Assembly The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN: —Do it properly.' Mr Malinauskas interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Leader of the Opposition! Members interjecting: The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN House of Assembly The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN: Indeed, again. Make it a considered investigative approach that consults with us. I don't know whether or not the Leader of the Opposition has consulted with the victims or any other stakeholders, or the Corrections officers— The Hon. L.W.K. Bignell interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: The member for Mawson is warned. The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN House of Assembly The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN: —or the department in relation to the Parole Board and all these other agencies that have a stake in this matter. It may be that this opposition are following the same position of the former government to just ignore the agencies that actually operate there. They could just do that; they could just continue their usual form. The public rejected that approach in March this year— Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN House of Assembly The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN: —and we are not going to fall into the Labor approach of pulling a political stunt. Even in light of that, they wanted to come in today to the parliament and say, 'Let's just bulldoze this through. Let's just ignore everyone else. Let's just progress.' Honourable members House of Assembly Honourable members: When? The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN House of Assembly The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN: Let me say that, as a member of the new government, I kept parliamentary counsel very busy last year before we went into government because I was confident that the people of South Australia would throw you lot out—and I was right. The Hon. L.W.K. Bignell interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: The member for Mawson is called to order and warned. For the chorus of 'whens', I call to order the deputy leader, I remind the leader that he is on two warnings and I call to order the member for Reynell and the member for Hurtle Vale. The member for West Torrens has the call.