Fire offences- review

Review of the standard non-parole period for the bushfire offence and maximum penalties for destroying property by fire

In 2018, the government amended the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) s 203E to increase the maximum penalty for lighting bushfires from imprisonment for 14 years to imprisonment for 21 years.

In light of this, on 12 November 2018, the Attorney General asked us to review:

• the standard non-parole period (SNPP) for lighting bushfires, and
• the maximum penalties for destroying property by fire.

Report

We transmitted our Report: Fire Offences (PDF, 1.2 MB) (PDF, 1.2 MB) to the Attorney General on 11 June 2019. It was released on 21 August 2019.

In response to our single recommendation, the government introduced an SNPP of 9 years by the Justice Legislation Amendment Act 2019 (NSW) sch 1.8[1] which commenced on 26 September 2019.

Other documents

The following documents were part of the consultation process for our Report:

• Submissions (responding to the terms of reference and background information)
• Background information

Terms of reference

We received the following terms of reference on 12 November 2018:

The Sentencing Council is to review the standard non-parole period for the bushfire offence under section 203E of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) to determine whether it should be increased upon passage of the Community Protection Legislation Amendment Bill in the NSW Parliament to increase to the maximum penalty for the offence from 14 years' imprisonment to 21 years' imprisonment. The Sentencing Council is further to review whether the maximum penalties for the arson offences in Part 4AD Division 2 of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) should be increased.

In undertaking this review, the Sentencing Council should consider:

• the number of convictions that have been made, and the corresponding average length of any custodial sentences imposed, in respect of the bushfire and arson offences since 2009
• environmental conditions, including current drought conditions across the state, that may exacerbate the potential harm caused by bushfires and other forms of fires
• the principles that courts apply when sentencing for these offences; and
• community expectations.