Rosalie Woodruff MP | Greens Leader
The Liberals’ new attempt to pass mandatory minimum sentencing legislation in Tasmania is as predictable as it is vile.
Faced with the mammoth task of implementing 191 recommendations from the Commission of Inquiry, including numerous important pieces of legislation, the Liberals have instead chosen to prioritise a fourth attempt at introducing mandatory minimums. What a shocking waste of everybody’s time, when they could be getting on with the job.
This is nothing more than a disgusting stunt that’s designed to play politics with the gravely serious issue of child sexual abuse. If such a legislative reform was going to help protect children, the Commission of Inquiry would have made it a recommendation.
The reason this bill is being brought forward is because the Liberals feel like they’re under pressure over their failure to take appropriate action to protect children in government institutions from child sexual abuse. What they don’t understand is that the only way of regaining the trust of the community is to actually buckle down and to do the work needed to keep children safe.
The Greens remain staunchly opposed to mandatory minimum sentences, and reject this attack on the independence of the judiciary in the strongest possible terms.
We hope Tasmanian Labor will maintain their long-standing opposition to this policy, and that the Crossbench will also recognise it is deeply problematic.
The sooner this bill is voted down, the sooner the Government can get back to focusing on doing what is really needed to deliver on the Commission of Inquiry’s many critical recommendations.