WA: Court reinterates warning on mandatory sentencing

AAP General News (Australia)
04-11-2000
WA: Court reinterates warning on mandatory sentencing

PERTH, April 11 AAP - West Australian Premier Richard Court today repeated his demand
that the federal government stay out of state affairs.

He was speaking in the wake of Prime Minister John Howard's mandatory sentencing deal
with the Northern Territory and a call by Australian Democrats Senator Aden Ridgeway for
the Prime Minister to confront Mr Court over WA's mandatory laws.

NT chief minister Denis Burke yesterday agreed to water down the Territory's controversial
laws by lifting the age of those who faced juvenile courts from 17 to 18 years.

The agreement was reached after Mr Howard offered $5 million a year to fund programs
that divert young people away from the courts.

However today Mr Court said WA's laws had nothing to do with federal politicians or
with other states, and the WA government had no intention of changing them.

"I would have thought that the people in New South Wales and Victoria should have a
look at their own children at risk and look at some of the horrific statistics coming
out there before they start telling us in Western Australian and the Northern Territory
how to run our business," Mr Court told radio 6PR.

"When they did an inquiry into our legislation here they could not find one case where
a juvenile had been treated unfairly - that was a Senate inquiry."

Mr Court denied WA's three strikes mandatory sentencing laws unfairly targeted Aborigines.

"The argument is that with the sentencing for juveniles, the Aboriginal population
is unfairly overly-represented in those figures, but in actual fact it is people of any
background who are convicted of three offences," Mr Court said.

"It's three strikes and you're in. It's simple to understand and as I've said, in this
state it has worked fairly.

"It's not racial, it covers anyone who offends three times."

AAP alm/arb/bwl

KEYWORD: MANDATORY COURT (CARRIED EARLIER)

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