MANDATORY SENTENCES – VICTORIA

Chief prosecutor attacks ‘extreme’ sentencing laws

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Original article by Steve Butcher
The Age – Page: 8 : 20-Oct-14

Victorian Attorney-General Robert Clark in August 2014 announced new baseline sentencing for serious offences. Supreme Court Chief Justice Marilyn Warren and County Court Chief judge Michael Rozenes criticised the move, and chief Crown prosecutor Gavin Silbert QC has now also labelled the Government’s decision an over-reaction and a dangerous path to a mandatory sentencing regime. However, he acknowledged that the often complex and obscure verdicts of a number of Court of Appeal judges had prompted the Government’s action

CORPORATES
VICTORIA. DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS, VICTORIA. OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL, COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA, SUPREME COURT OF VICTORIA, COURT OF APPEAL (VICTORIA), CRIMINAL BAR ASSOCIATION OF VICTORIA

Labor vow to act on hospital violence

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Original article by Kate Hagan
The Age – Page: 12 : 27-Jun-14

Victorian Auditor-General John Doyle in 2013 noted that public hospitals were failing to document all cases of violence against their staff. Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews has now vowed to address the issue if elected to govern in November 2014. He made the pledge at the 26 June state delegates’ conference of the Australian Nursing Federation. Health Minister David Davis also spoke, and highlighted new laws that include mandatory minimum sentences for those attacking emergency services workers. The Australian Medical Association applauds the Australian Labor Party’s push for greater transparency on the problem

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION (VICTORIA) LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN NURSING FEDERATION, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, VICTORIA. DEPT OF HUMAN SERVICES, VICTORIA. AUDITOR-GENERAL’S OFFICE, WESTERN HOSPITAL

Tougher penalties for attacks on police

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Original article by Jane Lee, Richard Willingham, Nino Bucci
The Age – Page: 2 : 26-Jun-14

Victorian Premier Denis Napthine has announced a tightening of laws protecting emergency service workers. Under the changes first foreshadowed in 2010, a minimum prison sentence of three years will be imposed on those who attack police officers, paramedics, firefighters, protective services officers, State Emergency Services workers, on-duty lifesavers or hospital emergency department staff. Attorney-General Robert Clark notes that the number of such assaults is rising due to drug and alcohol abuse, with close to 2,500 reported cases in 2012-13

CORPORATES
VICTORIA. OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL, VICTORIA. DEPT OF PREMIER AND CABINET, VICTORIA. STATE EMERGENCY SERVICE, THE POLICE ASSOCIATION OF VICTORIA, AMBULANCE VICTORIA FIRST AID, AMBULANCE EMPLOYEES AUSTRALIA