Page 3465 - Week 08 - Thursday, 18 August 2011
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MR CORBELL (Molonglo—Attorney-General, Minister for the Environment and Sustainable Development, Minister for Territory and Municipal Services and Minister for Police and Emergency Services) (10.02): I move:
That this bill be agreed to in principle.
Today I introduce the Crimes (Certain Penalty Increases) Amendment Bill 2011, which increases the maximum penalties for five offences against the person. It is the government’s aim to respond to community concerns about the appropriateness of the current penalties, to align penalties more closely with those in other jurisdictions and to better reflect the seriousness of the offences. The bill increases the maximum penalties for the offences of culpable driving causing death, culpable driving causing grievous bodily harm, intentionally inflicting grievous bodily harm, recklessly inflicting grievous bodily harm and negligently inflicting grievous bodily harm.
These penalties have been selected for amendment after careful consideration. I will begin by outlining how the bill reflects the government’s measured and reasoned approach to this task. Firstly, the bill ensures that maximum penalties for certain offences more closely align not only with other jurisdictions but also with the Model Criminal Code. Secondly, the government has taken detailed analysis of how the amendments to penalties will fit within the balanced scale of maximum penalties that currently exist for offences against the person in the territory. This exercise involves close reference to the particular elements of each offence. Finally, the bill ensures that aggravated forms of these offences can be adequately penalised within the new range provided for basic offences.
Recent instances of the offences of culpable driving causing death and culpable driving causing grievous bodily harm have drawn the government’s attention to the adequacy of current penalties for these two offences. Furthermore, the national road safety strategy 2011-20 endorsed by the government in May this year recognises that deterrence through appropriate penalties for driving offences plays an important role in educating road users. Deterrence through heavy penalties for these offences is an important aspect of road safety as it sends a clear message to all road users in the ACT about the serious consequences for both victims and offenders in culpable driving cases.
The ACT community appreciates the seriousness of culpable driving offences. The bill recognises this by proposing a maximum penalty of 14 years imprisonment for culpable driving causing death, which has been increased from seven years, and a maximum penalty of 10 years for culpable driving causing grievous bodily harm, an increase from four years. The new maximum penalties for culpable driving also address a concern raised by the Director of Public Prosecutions that current penalties are disproportionately low given the seriousness of these offences. The DPP’s concern is emphasised by the higher penalties available for these offences in other jurisdictions—10 years in New South Wales and 20 years in Victoria—for culpable driving causing death compared to the ACT’s current seven years and seven years in New South Wales and five years in Victoria for culpable driving causing grievous bodily harm, compared to the ACT’s four years.
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