HAYLEY SORENSEN

ready illegal to assault paramedics and the Government has been unable to produce any evidence that including firefighters and ambulance officers in the provision will make them any safer.

I’ve been waiting for three months to hear back from Attorney-General Natasha Fyles’s office for any information which showed courts have used the laws to hand longer jail sentences to thugs who assault cops than they would have received had they had been charged with common assault. If those laws could be proven to have made a difference, then fill your boot.

If not, what is the point in wasting Attorney-General department staff’s time drafting legislation which will then go on to be debated in Parliament for hours and ultimately be absolutely useless?

That’s time that could be spent doing something worthwhile, such as changing the Territory’s ridiculous mandatory sentencing laws.

Fyles flagged a review of the laws, which are universally loathed by the legal profession and most fair-minded people, soon after Labor came into power in 2016.

But since then, the Government has gone silent. Fyles was asked in Parliament last week to explain what work had been done so far on that review. I’ll spare you the excruciation and frustration of having to read a

“It’s another example of this Labor Government – strangely placed priorities”

transcript of her lengthy nonanswer. “Bugger all” covers it.

We’re also still waiting to hear anything at all on the promised reform of the Territory’s confusing, outdated and dangerous prostitution laws.

The laws as they stand outlaw brothels, a restriction sex workers and their advocates say takes away their freedom to choose how they work and can open them up to unnecessary dangers. Sex workers are also required to register with police for life. They’re required to provide details such as their hair and eye colour, details of any tattoos and next of kin. The highly invasive rules push some sex workers further to the fringes to operate outside the law, putting their safety at risk. But at least we’ve been spared from having to see ecigarettes out on display.

Hayley Sorensen is a regular Sunday Territorian columnist