Mandatory minimum sentencing changes to cost 'millions'
Mandatory minimum sentences for alcohol-related assaults in NSW will put extreme pressure on the prison system and cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, the Greens say.
Following intense public pressure over alcohol-fuelled violence, Premier Barry O'Farrell announced a raft of new measures on Tuesday to crack down on offenders.
Among the proposed new laws are increased maximum sentences and the introduction of mandatory minimum sentences for serious and fatal assaults involving drugs and alcohol.
Greens MP David Shoebridge said the sentencing changes would lead to the NSW prison population swelling by at least 50 per cent.
According to NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) figures obtained by the Greens, almost 4700 people in the state were convicted of serious assault offences in the 12 months to September 2013.
A further 900 people were convicted for assaulting police.
Of these, police figures reveal almost half the serious-assault convictions were alcohol-related, and more than 60 per cent of the assaults on police involved alcohol.
Based on these figures, Mr Shoebridge said the prison population would increase by about 2500 people within a year of the legislation coming into effect.
After that, it would rise even further.
To accommodate the increase, spending on adult prisons would increase from about $750 million a year to more than $1.1 billion, he said.
"The costs of this policy, both socially and in direct budget terms, are enormous," he said in a statement on Wednesday.
"Over the five-year budget cycle, this grossly flawed scheme will cost NSW taxpayers well over $2 billion on a policy that we know will fail."
He said the money would be better spent on schools, public transport and hospitals.
Meanwhile, the NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell says that Kings Cross identity John Ibrahim and his cohorts ought to follow the example of Manly's "responsible and respectable publicans" in dealing with alcohol-related violence.
The usually quiet Sydney underworld figure John Ibrahim took to social media yesterday, saying he was shocked by the announcement. Photo: Supplied via Twitter
A day after the NSW government announced its crackdown on drunken violence in Sydney's night hotspots, Mr O'Farrell has used the northern beaches suburb of Manly as an example of trading restrictions succeeding.
Manly has curbed its drunken assaults after licensed pubs enforced earlier lock-outs and alcohol restrictions.
Standing outside the Hotel Steyne on Wednesday, Mr O'Farrell said the establishment had reformed from being one of the most violent pubs in the state.
The hotel had listened to community concerns, worked with police and was an example that the colourful characters and nightclub owners in Kings Cross should follow, he added.
"I have a simple message for John Ibrahim," Mr O'Farrell told reporters on Wednesday, referring to the nightclub owner.
"If he is saying what we are doing at the Cross is a problem, well I wear that as a badge of honour.
A map of proposed 1.30am 'lock-out' and 3am 'last drinks' zones in central Sydney. Photo: Supplied the NSW Government
"Here is an example of responsible, respectable publicans doing the right thing by their community and improving their bottom line," the premier said.
"That is an example that Mr Ibrahim and his cohorts in the Cross ought to follow."
Pubs and clubs in the Cross and other inner-city entertainment precincts will be forced to impose 1.30am lockouts and 3am last drinks under a suite of reforms announced on Tuesday.
The trading restrictions will also extend to The Rocks and Cockle Bay, but not as far as Darling Harbour.
Mr O'Farrell said the boundaries would be adjusted if necessary.
Alcohol and drug intoxication will also be considered as aggravating factors in other violent offences, including sexual assault.
Mandatory minimum sentences for "one-punch" assaults will not deter offenders and will be a recipe for injustice if introduced, NSW's former DPP warns. Photo: AAP
Meanwhile, former head of the Department of Public Prosecutions Nicholas Cowdery believes the minimum sentences are "a recipe for injustice".
"The idea that just increasing penalties for offences is somehow going to deter people from committing them is naive and not supported by research," he told ABC radio on Wednesday.
The penalties already available for such offences gave judges an armoury of measures to deal with perpetrators in an appropriate way, he said.
But Mr O'Farrell has criticised the penalties being handed out by the judiciary.
"This would not have been necessary if the judiciary had handed out the types of penalties the community expects are available to them under the legislation," he said on Wednesday.
He said manslaughter was attracting an average four-year jail term.
Sydney builder Shaun McNeil has been charge with murder over the one-punch death of teenager Daniel Christie. Photo: Supplied
Hotel Steyne manager Lou Tipping said earlier lockouts and alcohol restrictions had definitely reduced violence in the area, but accepted there was a difference between the Manly locale and Kings Cross.
The Hotel Steyne has a 12.30am lock-out with 2am last drinks and a 2.30am closing times on weekends.
Manly police Superintendent Dave Darcy said a group of Manly licensees got together, despite having extended trading hours, and had reduced their hours and voluntarily introduced lock-outs.
"When I came here about five and a half years ago it was not uncommon to have a glassing a week," he said.
"We also had numerous coward punch events and this has changed dramatically."
