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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2024-02-07 Daily Xml
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Criminal Law Reform

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS (Black—Leader of the Opposition) (14:47): My question is to the Premier. Will the government instigate a review into the current penalties for serious crimes and breach of bail conditions?

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Premier) (14:48): I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. There is a range of work that remains ongoing within the government regarding criminal law reform. We have already announced some substantial changes to the penalty regime around offences, particularly pertaining to child sex offences. That piece of legislation is pretty substantial in terms of the power that we are investing in the courts. We are proposing legislation that will see people essentially locked up for their natural lives unless they can pass a high-threshold test by proving to the court they are willing and able to control their sexual instincts. In the absence of that test, they will be in jail for the rest of their lives, and even if they pass that test we are proposing that they be subject to electronic monitoring for the rest of their lives.

We are actively examining those types of reforms amongst others, including a few different options in terms of bail reform. That work remains ongoing. Where we see opportunities to legislate, to criminalise particular behaviour, to strengthen sentencing laws or to address bail and remand, then we have no hesitation to do so, in both opposition and now in government. We will be very clear that, if we think it's the right thing to do, if we think it will make the community safer, we are willing to pass whatever laws are required. We won't hold back.

That brings with it some criticism. The Law Society of course is critical of this government for some tough legislative change regarding law and order, but that's criticism that we are willing to cop where we believe that imposing sentences that are harsh on people in the name of keeping people safe is the right thing to do. When it comes to child sex offences or DV, these types of areas of criminality, we make no apologies for taking a tough stance. I think there is a judgement to be made by the parliament around the sentencing of prisoners not being about retribution, but at some point it has to be about actually keeping people in jail because it keeps them off the streets reoffending.

As a government, we are also pragmatic about the need to invest in reducing reoffending. It's something that I have felt strongly about since becoming the corrections minister back in 2016. It's something I know the current corrections minister is particularly dedicated to, along with the Attorney-General, looking at options we can do to continue the reduction in reoffending.

The minister for corrections has been out recently reporting on a statistic I think the state can be proud of, and that is that we have been able to achieve the status of having the lowest reoffending rate of all states in the country, well below 40 per cent, and that's a trend the minister continues to work on in order to maintain, with a particular interest in also seeing a reduction in the representation of Indigenous people in the rate of reoffending, which brings with it its own challenges and a lot of work.

Reductions in reoffending we are committed to but, equally, we are committed to locking people up forever if it actually means taking them off the streets and preventing reoffending from occurring. We think child sex crimes is a good example of that, but there may be other opportunities for heavy-handed legislation, and if we deem them appropriate we will bring them into the parliament.

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