Attorney-General Shane Rattenbury does not understand the problem of recidivist offenders committing driving crimes on bail and a law reform council has taken too long to start work, a Labor backbencher has said.
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Labor's Marisa Paterson said she was concerned Mr Rattenbury did not understand the problem the law reform and sentencing advisory council, which had taken more than a year to set up, was designed to address.
It felt like an insult for the government response to say a review of sentences had been completed with no "genuine attempt to understand the data", she said.
"The problem is there is a group of people in our community who repeatedly drive cars with no respect for the safety of the community, they disrespect our police, they flout our bail system and our court system. And they kill and seriously injure innocent people," Dr Paterson said in the Legislative Assembly on Thursday afternoon.
Dr Paterson pointed to police data which she said showed furious, reckless and dangerous driving was the most common and most serious driving offence on the territory's roads.
"These people are repeat aggravated offenders that are gravely putting the general public - innocent people - at risk," she said.
The data, later provided to The Canberra Times by Dr Paterson's office, showed there were 104 charges for aggravated furious, reckless or dangerous driving in the ACT in 2021-22, up from 85 in 2020-21. The next most common offence was negligent driving without causing death or injury, with 31 charges in 2021-22.
Dr Paterson said she was concerned the advisory council was made up of largely already senior members of the ACT government who would be required to provide the answers to the issues highlighted in an inquiry into dangerous driving.
The inquiry recommended the government review dangerous driving sentences in the territory to determine whether they had become more lenient.
In its response to the inquiry, the government said it agreed with the recommendation and had completed work, noting sentences handed to dangerous drivers had not become more lenient based on data from the ACT courts.
The government said it had completed a review of sentencing data for dangerous driving offences, which found the average sentence duration was 286 days in 2022-23, up from 277 days in 2021-22 but down from 306 days in 2019-20.
Dr Paterson was critical of the government's response and said she had asked for further information.
"The Attorney-General considered that recommendation agreed and completed and has repeatedly resisted any engagement in questions raised about this," she said.
"It feels a bit of an insult in what was presented was three and a half years, over COVID, of conflated sentencing data. It provides no data on custodial vs non-custodial; it provides no break down of incarceration, intensive correction orders or suspended sentences, or drug and alcohol treatment orders."
Mr Rattenbury said in a statement the government response had been jointly presented with Transport Minister Chris Steel and signed off by the entire cabinet.
"It recognised there are serious issues, acknowledged the work of the Committee, and provided significant detail in response to the recommendations. The government is committed to improving road safety in the ACT, and has already undertaken a range of recent reforms including the creation of new offences, and has committed to further work, including examining bail presumptions," Mr Rattenbury said.
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The government noted a recommendation from the dangerous driving inquiry to remove a presumption in favour of bail for people charged with serious driving offences, but said it did not yet support its passage.
"The ACT government acknowledges the views of stakeholders within the report but, at this point, does not support the implementation of a neutral bail presumption across all offences considered to be serious dangerous driving offences," the response said.
Dr Paterson stressed the bill, which she introduced to the Assembly, should pass.
"I don't care to see more people go to jail, or in detention - I think detention only leads to worse outcome, and arguably interventions through the criminal justice system are too late. But there has to be intervention, status quo is not OK," she said.
The ACT government has faced considerable community pressure to act on dangerous driving, following a ten-year high road toll in 2022.
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Jasper Lindell
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
