Nicole McKee: Associate Justice Minister on the Government's revamped Three-Strikes regime

An Associate Justice Minister is urging the public to submit on proposed three-strike laws.

A Bill to reinstate the sentencing is being introduced to Parliament today, but it won't include sentences under two years.

Minister Nicole McKee says it is fit for purpose.

"I think that we need to go harsh and hard on our criminals, especially those serious violent ones - but I also think that we need to have some sort of out for the lower-level offending."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Feather Dueloman has introduced its revamped three strikes law to
Parliament today, but it is quite a watered down version
of what three strikes used to be. The new law
is not going to apply to any sentences under two years.
It's going to wipe all previous strikes. It's going to
clean slate all the criminals. Nicole McKee is the Associate
Justice Minister and with us.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Hey, Nicole, Hi, great to be back with you again.

Speaker 1 (00:21):
Nicole. I can't imagine that you are comfortable with clean
slating all of these thugs. Why are you doing that?

Speaker 2 (00:26):
Well, we have to, and the reason why we have
to is because the regime that's about to be introduced
is going to be different to the one that we
had in the past, and because of that, it means
that we cannot carry over people from a different repealed
regime into a new one.

Speaker 1 (00:42):
Why don't you just make that same, Nicole, make it
the same so that you can carry it over.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
You know, it would be great if we could make
it the same, But I think the reality is if
we do that, it's just going to be repelled again
and all those criminals who.

Speaker 1 (00:54):
Care let out who cares?

Speaker 2 (00:57):
Labor Wheel here here because we want to make sure
that victims are looked after and that the real serious,
repeat sexual and violent offenders are locked up. And what
Labour has done has basically said the way you mean
about it was wrong. We're going to let them out
and we don't want that to happen again. Now, there
were some genuine concerns about lower level offending being caught

(01:19):
up in the three strikes regime. Three strikes is meant
to go after the most serious violent offenders, and when
you get the low level offending being caught up, then
you are not actually meeting the intent of the law.
So we've got to make sure that those people that
were serving a third strike that had seventy four offenses
amongst them each as an average, are going to be

(01:39):
locked up, and this new regime is going to make
sure that happened.

Speaker 1 (01:42):
Nicole. Let me tell you about Rona Peritomata. He is
a third striker. His third strike was beating his girlfriend
to death in twenty nineteen with his bare hands. Under
your law, he wouldn't even be a third striker because
his first defense was aggravated robbery, for which he got
eight months home detention. Strike under the old to strike
under yours. Second was a robbery, twenty months in jail,

(02:04):
strike under the old law, not a strike under yours,
ends up killing his girlfriend. You want to tell me
he shouldn't be a third striker.

Speaker 2 (02:10):
And I think the changes that we're making to the
regime where we give sentencing principles to the judges that
say to them pay you cannot behave in such a
way that you use the three strikes regime as a
reason to offer discount some of those issues.

Speaker 1 (02:26):
Of that's not what I'm talking about.

Speaker 2 (02:28):
Want to make sure that the judges that implement the
law understand the true intent of the law.

Speaker 1 (02:34):
And that's not what I'm doing. That's about the judges.
That this is not about the judges.

Speaker 2 (02:38):
This is about you, the judge giving out the sentences.

Speaker 1 (02:42):
You have written the law so that our friends are
Unaptitomata who ends up killing his girlfriend on his third strike,
never even reaches the third strike under your law. That's
on you. That's not on the judges.

Speaker 2 (02:53):
Well, actually no, it's not on me. What's on me
is to make sure that we have a regime in
the future that's fit for purpose, that be repelled, that
locks up those serious violent offenders.

Speaker 1 (03:02):
It's the point, Nicole, who cares if you're going to
give me a piece of legislation, that's a dog who
cares if it gets repealed or not. It's not work.
It's not going to work.

Speaker 2 (03:11):
Then I invite everybody who has the same opinion as
you to take advantage of the Select Committy process. Come
in and tell us what it is that they want
to make it stronger, and let's see what we can
do to accommodate that as we go through that Select
Committee process. That's why it's so important to have it
and make sure people have a say.

Speaker 1 (03:30):
Nicole, would you like to actually beef it up? And
do you need our help to come along to the
Select Committee process to help you to beef it up.

Speaker 2 (03:37):
The more people that submit and tell us what they
really want in there, the more that the Justice Select
Committee will be able to listen and hopefully accommodate them.

Speaker 1 (03:47):
Would you like to beef it up?

Speaker 2 (03:50):
I think that we need to go harsh and hard
on our criminals, especially those serious violent ones. But I
also think that we need to have some sort of
out for the lower level offending. But I also think
that we need to make sure that the principles of
sentencing are in place so that the judges do understand
the intent of the regime and that those really serious

(04:11):
offenders are locked before I let.

Speaker 1 (04:13):
You go, long time before I let you go. You're
talking about lower level offending, right, which is offending which
doesn't capture, which is under two years in jail? Right, Oh,
mate Tomata, first offense aggravated robbery eight months home d
Is that low level offending as far as you're concerned.

Speaker 2 (04:29):
Well, when we look at the qualifying offenses, there's a
list of forty one of them was forty It's going
to be forty one. And as I mentioned, the principles
on sentencing guidelines for the judges really spout out in
this new bill that we're putting through will ensure that
people that do have offenses like that, if they are serious,

(04:51):
are sentenced appropriately and then given the strike as a
part of that, as I mentioned, for people to actually
come and be a part of the flickmity process, tell
us what they really think, what they'd really like to see,
because what people's views are actually matter, and it's how
we go about making sure we have good legislation.

Speaker 1 (05:10):
Okay, Well, here's hoping you get the support you need, Nicole,
to make this the thing it needs to be. Thank
you so much for your tim Nicole McKee, Associate Justice Minister.
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