Apparently Mr Rau’s bill is designed to formalise incentives for offenders who enter an early guilty plea.

 

“While Mr Rau would like to claim his bill will speed up the backlog in the court system, removing discounts for late pleas will actually hurt victims,” Shadow Attorney-General Stephen Wade said.

 

“Sentence discounts are not new, despite Labor’s spin on the matter.

 

“In fact, Mr Rau’s proposals will make things worse, particularly for victims.

 

“Removing discounts in the late stages of a case means that criminals will have no incentive to avoid putting victims through the trauma of a court appearance.

 

“Mr Rau’s proposal is not driven by delivering justice, it’s about delivering more Labor spin.

 

“It is strange that Mr Rau and Labor are proposing two new sentencing formulas when two courts in the past month have said they don’t work.

 

“They may make good headlines for a press release, but South Australians are sick of spin; they want real outcomes.

 

“Let’s not forget this is Mr Rau’s first bill out of the 12 reviews he has announced since the State Election.

 

“This does raise questions as to what’s happened to some of the early reviews such as the review of propensity evidence.”