SHANE Rattenbury’s “rushed” announcement last month of an advisory council on sentencing and bail conditions in the ACT appears premature, says Australian Federal Police Association (AFPA) president Alex Caruana.
“It seems that the attorney-general rushed this announcement to try and appease the community, in a laughable effort to deflect from his position on an independent sentencing and bail review for the ACT,” says Caruana.
“If the attorney-general was taking this matter seriously, he would have released terms of reference and guidelines for the establishment of the advisory council at the time of the initial announcement,” Mr Caruana said.
The AFPA and ACT community were still waiting for further details on a previous study ordered by Attorney-General Rattenbury, Caruana said.
“In August 2022, Mr Rattenbury commissioned a study to be undertaken by the Justice and Community Safety Directorate around bail practices — concentrating heavily on the question of whether recent bail outcomes meant a rethink of existing attitudes around the granting or denial of bail was overdue. To date, no updates of any substance had been provided to the community about the study,” he said.
“The terms of reference for the study haven’t been made public and we don’t even know if the study has commenced. Again, anything to do with the judicial system seems to have a lack of transparency and accountability — all thanks to the attorney-general,” Mr Caruana said.
The AFPA recently participated in the Standing Committee on Justice and Community Safety inquiry into dangerous driving in the ACT.
Mr Caruana said that listening to the victims participating in the hearing was heartbreaking, and if Rattenbury required any more evidence to begin an independent review into bail and sentencing, then he should watch the hearings.
“My heart goes out to the families who participated in the hearings. We can never return their loved ones, but we could at least make sure that the judicial system is getting things right when it comes to sentencing and bail. An independent review would answer this question,” Mr Caruana said.
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