Labor has voted to block mandatory penalties for serious child sexual offenders.
I am very disappointed that Labor has used their balance of power in the Legislative Council to block minimum mandatory sentences for sexual offences against a child.
The legislation was defeated 6–6, with the president voting against as per convention. To be clear, if Labor had supported the bill with their three votes, it would have passed.
This legislation has strong support from both the Tasmanian community and the victims themselves and Labor had no excuse to block it after we took it to the people at the 2013 Pembroke election and the 2014 election, and received a strong mandate each time. Labor has let down every Tasmanian who expects strong penalties for these abhorrent crimes.
We will now seek a third mandate for these laws at the next election and if re-elected, we will reintroduce them into the Parliament.