Member

I agree with both of them that this measure is welcome, but we should not overstate the extent to which we are delivering exactly what victims and their families asked for. As has been said, these steps forward are welcome, but in some ways they are not exactly what families asked for. Tracey’s key point throughout has been about parity between offenders and victims, and while the six months is a welcome extension for victims, offenders will continue to have longer because they can lodge an appeal at any point in their sentence. The Minister wants us to understand that there needs to be finality in sentencing, but there is no finality from the perspective of victims who, at any point, might be told that the offender is lodging an appeal and they will have to wait and see whether that alters the sentence.