Derryn Hinch (Victoria, Derryn Hinch's Justice Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Boy, it's tempting to say, 'I told you so'. Recent events in the High Court—I'm not talking about the munificent 7 and their dual-citizenship imbroglio—make it look like somebody has been reading my mail. The High Court has found that for years the Supreme Court of Victoria has been handing down sentences that are far too lenient—no shit, Sherlock! In some cases, such as incest, jail terms—

Cory Bernardi (SA, Australian Conservatives) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Senator Hinch, I'm not sure that that language is entirely appropriate.

Derryn Hinch (Victoria, Derryn Hinch's Justice Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I was being colloquial. I withdraw.

Cory Bernardi (SA, Australian Conservatives) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you.

Derryn Hinch (Victoria, Derryn Hinch's Justice Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In some serious cases, such as incest, jail terms for a heinous crime have been 'anomalously low for decades.' Some of us have been going on about this for decades. It's why we formed the Justice Party and why I got voted into this place in the first place. It's why I'm standing here tonight. It's why a lot of us keep urging the DPP to appeal light sentences on the grounds that they are manifestly inadequate by accepted community standards. The latest trigger was a case of child abuse—a case of incest—where a man sexually abused his partner's 13-year-old daughter and made her pregnant. He impregnated a vulnerable little girl, and his sentence was only 3½ years in jail. A child's innocence was taken, a life was scarred forever, and his sentence was only 3½ years.

Former Victoria Police Commissioner Kel Glare says that the High Court's ruling that this sentence was anomalously low could be what he called a turning point, at which sentencing starts to reflect community standards. The former police chief has very strong views on this. He said:

Hopefully this decision will be a turning point and Victorians will see the judiciary in this state begin to reflect community expectations in sentencing and parole practices.

The former commissioner also said:

For too long, magistrates, judges and the parole board in this state have not met the expectation of the community, nor in justice being done and being seen to be done.

I couldn't agree with him more, especially in relation to crimes against children, especially when trusted relatives are involved and especially in the area of the possession of child pornography. Too often men are given light or even suspended sentences because a judge notes that the videos and images were for a person's 'personal use only'. They ignore the fact that for a video to be made or a photo to be taken a young boy or young girl has suffered grievously.

We have a new Chief Justice in Victoria, Justice Anne Ferguson. The state's Victims of Crime Commissioner, Greg Davies, sees that appointment as what he called 'the perfect opportunity to bridge' what he sees as—and I agree with him—'the widening gap between our expectations and the judiciary's approach to sentencing.' Greg Davies is a former Police Association secretary. He says:

… there was an "an obvious disconnect between judges and the broader public".

He says:

It is an opportunity for the court. If they show they are prepared to accept what the community has been saying for a very long time and now what the High Court is saying, to take the opportunity and raise sentencing principles of community protection and punishment of an offender above current sentencing standards.

I genuinely hope that this happens. It's what I've been talking about and protesting about for years. It's what I've gone to jail over. It's what I've had the indignity of wearing an electronic ankle bracelet for five months over. It's what I spent two weeks in solitary confinement over. On this occasion the High Court must be applauded. I just hope it washes off on courts, not only in Victoria but all over Australia.