Draft Racial Motivation legislation released for public consultation

The Hodgman Liberal Government has released for public consultation a draft Bill to amend the Sentencing Act 1997.

The draft Bill introduces an amendment to provide that a court, when determining the appropriate sentence for an offender, is to take into account as an aggravating circumstance that the offence was motivated by racial hatred or prejudice.

The Hodgman Government recognises the benefits of a rich and culturally diverse Tasmanian community.

We want to do everything we can to discourage racially motivated attacks by ensuring there is a specific consequence.

Tasmania is a wonderful place to live and visit. With a growing number of international students and visitors coming to Tasmania from all over the world, it is important that they feel safe.

The draft Bill delivers on our ‘Multicultural Tasmania’ 2014 election commitment to require that the racist motivation of an offender be taken into consideration at sentencing.

It also sends a strong message that racially-motivated offences are abhorrent and allow Tasmanians from diverse ethnic backgrounds to have confidence that racially motivated crimes will not be tolerated in our community.

The draft Bill is available on the Department of Justice website www.justice.tas.gov.au along with details of how to provide feedback.
Vanessa Goodwin, Attorney-General