The Hodgman Liberal Government is getting on with the job of delivering on our election commitments.
At the election, we received a strong mandate to better protect Tasmanians, including our most vulnerable.
Accordingly, I will today table legislation that will ensure minimum mandatory sentences apply to anyone who commits a serious sexual offence against a child, as well as legislation to ensure anyone who seriously assaults a police officer, regardless of whether they are on or off duty also receives a minimum mandatory sentence.
Any sexual offence against a child is abhorrent and the community rightfully expects zero tolerance for these heinous crimes.
The legislation will ensure minimum mandatory sentences of up to 4 years to apply to anyone who commits a serious sexual offence against a child, including rape where a victim is under 17 years and maintaining a sexual relationship with a young person where there are aggravating circumstances.
Children are the most vulnerable members in our society, and we need to do everything we can to send a strong deterrent message to protect them from sexual predators.
We will also move forward on our plan to better protect those who protect us, with our legislation to ensure mandatory sentences apply to those who assault police officers when they are targeted based purely on their job regardless of whether they are on or off duty.
There are no circumstances in which police officers should be targeted and assaulted because of their job, and this will ensure a zero tolerance approach is taken
Both of these important pieces of legislation were blocked by Labor in the previous parliament, which is why we sought a mandate from the people at the March election.
We now expect Labor to respect the will of the people and support our legislation to ensure mandatory jail time for those who assault children and off duty police officers.