Bills

Sentencing (Suspended and Community Based Custodial Sentences) Amendment Bill

Final Stages

The Legislative Council agreed to the bill with the amendments indicated by the following schedule, to which amendments the Legislative Council desires the concurrence of the House of Assembly:

No. 1. Clause 5, page 3, line 8—Delete 'definition of terrorist act' and substitute:

definition of serious offence, (c)

No. 2. Clause 7, page 4, after line 11—After subclause (4) insert:

(4a) Section 71(5), definition of designated offence, (a)—delete '12, 12A'

No. 3. Clause 7, page 4, line 36 to page 5, line 3 [clause 7(7), inserted subsection (6)(a)]—Delete paragraph (a) and substitute:

(a) the defendant was, at the time of the offence, 20 years of age or less; and

(ab) the circumstances of the offending, including the victim's age and the age difference between the defendant and the victim, are such that it is appropriate that a home detention order be made; and

No. 4. Clause 10, page 7, lines 4 to 6 [clause 10(2), inserted paragraph (ab)(i)]—Delete subparagraph (i)

No. 5. Clause 10, page 7, lines 7 to 9 [clause 10(2), inserted paragraph (ab)(ii)]—Delete 'unless the court is satisfied that special reasons exist for the making of an intensive correction order'

No. 6. Clause 10, page 7, lines 24 and 25 [clause 10(3), inserted subsection (5), definition of designated offence, (b)]—Delete paragraph (b)

No. 7. Clause 10, page 8, lines 6 to 9 [clause 10(3), inserted subsection (5), definition of prescribed designated offence]—Delete the definition of prescribed designated offence

No. 8. Clause 14, page 12, after line 22—After subclause (2) insert:

(2a) Section 96(9), definition of designated offence, (a)—delete '12, 12A'

No. 9. Clause 14, page 14, lines 12 to 18 [clause 14(6), inserted subsection (10)(a)]—Delete paragraph (a) and substitute:

(a) the defendant was, at the time of the offence, 20 years of age or less; and

(ab) the circumstances of the offending, including the victim's age and the age difference between the defendant and the victim, are such that it is appropriate that the sentence be suspended; and

No. 10. Schedule 1, page 16, lines 13 to 22 [Schedule 1, Part 2, clause 2(2)]—Delete subclause (2) and substitute:

(2) Section 75—after subsection (1) insert:

(1aa) If—

(a) a person is sentenced to imprisonment for an offence committed while on parole; and

(b) the court orders that the person serve the sentence subject to a home detention order or an intensive correction order under the Sentencing Act 2017,

the person is liable to serve the balance of the sentence, or sentences, of imprisonment in respect of which the person was on parole, being the balance unexpired as at the day on which the offence was committed (and the person will serve that balance subject to the conditions of the home detention order or intensive correction order (as the case requires)).

Note—

Section 45(2) of the Sentencing Act 2017 provides that the sentence for the offence committed while on parole will be cumulative on the sentence, or sentences, in respect of which the defendant was on parole.

(3) Section 75(1a)—delete 'Subsection (1) applies' and substitute:

Subsections (1) and (1aa) apply

(4) Section 75(2)—after 'subsection (1)' insert:

or (1aa)

(5) Section 75(3)—delete 'in prison under this section' and substitute:

under this section in prison or under a home detention order or intensive correction order (as the case requires)

No. 11. Schedule 1, page 16, line 23 [Schedule 1, Heading to Part 2]—Delete 'Transitional' and substitute:

Savings and transitional

No. 12. Schedule 1, page 16, lines 26 to 28 [Schedule 1, Part 2, clause 3(1)]—Delete 'the offence for which the defendant is being sentenced was committed before or after that commencement.' and substitute:

—

(a) the offence for which the defendant is being sentenced was committed before or after that commencement; or

(b) the defendant is being sentenced at first instance or on an appeal against sentence.

No. 13. Schedule 1, page 16, after line 36 [Schedule 1, Part 2, clause 3]—After subclause (2) insert:

(3) An amendment effected by a provision of this Act does not apply to or in relation to a home detention condition included in a bond under section 96(7) of the Sentencing Act 2017 (as in force immediately before the commencement of section 14(2) of this Act).

Consideration in committee.

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN: I move:

That the Legislative Council's amendments be agreed to.

I indicate that the government welcomes the amendments as scheduled from the Legislative Council and will support the same. In short, they are amendments that were introduced by the Treasurer, substantially, although amendment No. 12 was from the Hon. Mr Maher, who presented an addition to the suite of amendments. I do not propose to discuss it any further, other than to indicate the government's acceptance of the same. I look forward to the swift passage of the bill and the new regime that will follow for suspended and community-based custodial sentences in the future.

Mr PICTON: I rise to make a few comments in relation to this bill and to the amendments that have been presented from the other place. While the opposition is supporting this and does not want to stand in the way of the bill, we do highlight that we are disappointed that the government did not support the Labor Party's amendments to strengthen the bill. We believe that it is, sadly, a weak bill that leaves open the door for dangerous paedophiles to be released on home detention. It has also been rushed and riddled with drafting errors, as is clearly evidenced by the sheer number of amendments that the government themselves—

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN: Point of order: I raise the question of reflection on a vote in the other place. Rather than dealing with the amendments, the member is referring to his view about the vote in relation to amendments that were presented and rejected in another place and I ask that he discontinue.

The CHAIR: Member for Kaurna, I will listen carefully. I do not believe you really were reflecting on the vote as such, but I will ask you to make your comments and we will take these amendments in hand.

Mr PICTON: Thank you very much, Chair. I appreciate your very sensible ruling on the point of order from the Deputy Premier. We believe that this was a rushed bill, riddled with drafting errors, as is evidenced by the significant number of amendments that have been presented here to this house today to supposedly clarify provisions that were filed by the government in the other place.

We do not want to stand in the way of the bill, but we highlight that we believe that our amendments would have strengthened this bill and would have ensured that paedophiles, such as Vivian Deboo, would stay locked up behind bars and that in the future the circumstances that arose in regard to paedophile Paul Thomas would not have resulted in his being released into the community.

Unfortunately, we did not get that support and that is not proceeding. We hope that there are not downsides from the government's decision in that regard in the future. Ultimately, we will not stand in the way of this bill and will allow it to proceed with the amendments being moved through the Deputy Premier to address the many drafting issues the Deputy Premier had in her original bill.

Motion carried.

At 17:58 the house adjourned until Tuesday 4 June 2019 at 11:00.