Janetzki hoping for bill success

MP wants support for changes

THE Toowoomba politician pushing for tougher penalties for child-killers has hopes the State Government will work with him on the issue.

Toowoomba South MP and Attorney-General spokesman for the LNP David Janetzki’s amendment bill, dubbed the “Mason Jett Lee bill”, will be scrutinised alongside a similar bill from Labor in committee sessions next month.

Mr Janetzki said the wideranging bill would increase the penalty for those convicted of killing a child to a minimum of 15 years, while Labor’s amendments would instead broaden the scope of murder to include “reckless indifference” to human life.

The bill was named in honour of Caboolture toddler Mason Jett Lee, whose killer and step-father Andrew O’Sullivan received a sentence of six years in jail last year.

Mr Janetzki said he believed increasing the minimum sen- tence for unlawful death was a more effective way of meeting community expectations.

“A lot of children have been killed and for too long their lives have not been valued by the law,” he said, referring to the average sentence for child manslaughter being 6.8 years.

“The reason why murder convictions are hard to obtain is that intent is difficult to prove. Often there isn’t evidence from others around.

“Labor want to introduce ‘reckless indifference’ which they argue will work and make sure these child killers (get convicted).

“Labor are arguing that their laws will ultimately strengthen the imprisonment period, but I will say in NSW that hasn’t worked.”

Mr Janetzki said he wanted to work with the State Government on the issue.

In her speech to parliament last month, Attorney-General Yvette D’Arth said the government’s proposed changes would stop people escaping murder charges.