Today in the Senate, Senator Mehreen Faruqi, Deputy Leader of the Australian Greens and Spokesperson for Anti-Racism, will introduce a bill to repeal the mandatory minimum sentencing provisions brought in by Labor in February in a last minute deal with the Liberals.
As stated by Senator Faruqi:
"The eleventh-hour dirty deal between Labor and the Liberals to add mandatory minimum sentencing to the Hate Crimes Bill was an absolute disgrace. Mandatory minimum sentencing was bad law then, and it is bad law now.
"Mandatory minimum sentencing was rammed through in a highly charged political atmosphere based on a caravan plot which the AFP immediately knew was a hoax.
"There was no justification for mandatory minimum sentencing in the first place, but now the truth is public, there is even more reason to repeal these provisions right now.
"Unjust, unfair and discriminatory mandatory sentencing provisions that disproportionately affect marginalised communities and don't work to make the community safe should not be in our laws a day longer.
"Sentencing should be up to judges, not politicians, and especially not those who thrive on stoking division and fear."
