Sentencing review 2013-2014

In the past year the penal climate in Australia has continued to heat up with the addition of more mandatory sentences to the statute books. With a few exceptions, mandatory minimum sentences of imprisonment for serious crimes have been unusual after the Northern Territory government repealed its mandatory sentencing regime for juvenile offenders in 2001. All that has changed. Queensland now has a raft of mandatory minimum penalties of imprisonment, 10 of which have been introduced since June 2012, including the mandatory sentencing regime in the Vicious Lawless Association Disestablishment Act 2013 (Qld). In 2013, Victoria introduced a mandatory minimum sentence of four years’ imprisonment for offences of gross violence unless a special reason exists.1 In Tasmania, the Liberal government has introduced legislation for a mandatory minimum period of imprisonment of six months for an offence which causes serious bodily harm to a police officer2 and a minimum mandatory penalty of three months’ imprisonment for workplace protesters with a previous conviction for the new offence of invading or hindering a business.3 Amongst the latest offences to attract a mandatory penalty of imprisonment are the controversial one punch laws enacted this year in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland. These laws are the second issue to be discussed in this year’s review. The first issue analyses the High Court’s controversial decision in Barbaro v The Queen4 which put an end to the practice of prosecutors making a submission as to the sentencing range within which a sentence should fall. The implications of this decision are discussed.