Ms Molly Joyce:

I am happy to jump in with a quick observation on that. I thank the Senator for raising the issue. The key agency that comes to mind is, of course, the Judicial Council, which was recently established. I know there was a report today or yesterday, which I have not had a chance to look through, identifying some concerns about the resourcing available for judicial training. That will obviously be an issue. Judicial training will be absolutely key. That seems to be the most obvious way in which we can potentially address the gap the Senator has identified in respect of actually providing judges with training about the options available and the reasons restorative justice might be more effective than sending someone to prison.

In addition, the sentencing guidelines and information committee is part of the Judicial Council. It has started some really good work in terms of building research in the area of developing sentencing guidelines. Again, something that could be explored through that work is whether restorative justice measures could actually be included. Certainly, we do and will be advocating for the principle of prison as a last resort to be embedded within any sentencing guidelines going forward. That is probably the key agency but someone else might have some additional input on that.