New laws have been passed to strengthen the sentencing of family violence offenders when dealing with a guilty person.
Attorney-General, Shane Rattenbury said the new legislation was the first phase of proposed family violence reforms.
Mr Rattenbury said the legislation responded to the issue raised by the Court of Appeal in R v UG [2020] ACTCA 8, which found that without any statutory provision there was no place for a separate sentencing regime that applied to offenders who committed family violence offences.
“The community rightly expects courts to hold perpetrators of family violence to account in sentencing,” Mr Rattenbury said
“I want to ensure courts have the appropriate tools to sentence offenders, prevent family violence and ultimately protect the community,” he said.
Mr Rattenbury said under this first phase of reforms, the Court would be required to consider certain factors when sentencing for a family violence offender, including where the offence occurred; whether a child was present; and, if the offence was a serious family violence offence, whether the offender had any previous convictions for the same offence.
The Attorney-General said the second phase of proposed reforms would include the addition of aggravated offences.
“We are taking a phased approach to fully address the complexities in this area,” he said.
“We want to ensure family violence legislation provides the greatest protection possible for victims and appropriate consequences for offenders, recognising the need for a nuanced response given the nature of family violence itself, and family violence offences.”
Mr Rattenbury said the legislation also contained amendments to support the use of body-worn cameras by ACT Policing.
