Damien Tudehope
Shadow Attorney General
Last night, the Opposition and the Legislative Council crossbench voted to support amendments to the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Amendment (Good Character at Sentencing) Bill 2026 which would prevent good character evidence from being used at sentencing for any and all sexual offences, and to give courts discretion to ignore good character evidence at sentencing for all other offences.
These important amendments were introduced to Labor’s bill by both the Opposition and The Greens to address the serious concerns raised by key victim-survivor support groups through the parliamentary inquiry which the Minns Labor Government tried to block.
Not a single member of the Legislative Council crossbench voted with the Government against the sensible amendments to the Bill.
Shadow Attorney General, Damien Tudehope, welcomed the widespread support for the amendments in the Parliament and called on the Minns Labor Government to pass the bill immediately in the Legislative Assembly next week to protect victim-survivors of sexual offences.
“The Attorney General Michael Daley should speak with the Premier today to make passing this bill in the lower house an immediate priority for when Parliament resumes next Tuesday,” Mr Tudehope said.
“Any attempt to delay it by playing parliamentary games now only risks more victim-survivors of sexual offences having their perpetrators benefit from good character evidence.”
“Disgracefully, Labor wanted to ignore the serious concerns raised by key stakeholders, like Domestic Violence NSW, the Aboriginal Legal Service and Public Defenders, about removing good character evidence altogether.
“We chose to listen to those concerns and strike a balanced approach that excluded good character evidence for sexual offences and gave the courts the ability to ignore good character as it sees fit.”
“A key example of why Labor’s blanket approach was wrong, is the example called out by Domestic Violence NSW, the Aboriginal Legal Service NSW and Public Defenders where a female victim of domestic violence who, after years of abuse, may commit an out of character domestic violence or other violent offence where that kind of offender should not be deprived of the opportunity to have someone speak to their otherwise good character.”
“The Government did not attempt to speak with the Opposition before bringing the reform in and has not engaged in good faith negotiations through the entire process.”
“Now is the time for them to act and pass the laws that the Upper House has passed and not delay it any further.”
The Australian Lawyers Alliance’s spokesperson, Greg Barns SC, has welcomed the sensible amendments secured by the Opposition and Legislative Council Crossbench.
“Every person and every criminal case is unique,” said Mr Barns SC.
“Enforcing blanket rules that apply across the board denies procedural fairness to individuals and removes the discretion of the courts.”
“The removal of the use of character references for every crime limits the ability of the court to make informed sentencing decisions.”
The Bill now returns to the Legislative Assembly which is due to meet again on Tuesday, 12 May 2026.