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Media statement concerning the proposed amendment to criminal procedure
MEDIA STATEMENT ISSUED BY THE CHIEF JUSTICE OF NEW SOUTH WALES
27 August 2001
The Premier, the Honourable Robert Carr MP, met with the Chief Justice of New South Wales, the Honourable J J Spigelman AC today.
At the meeting the Chief Justice told the Premier that he had recently informed the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions that the Chief Justice
would grant permission to the Director to institute proceedings in the Supreme Court, rather than the District Court, in any drug importation prosecution
in which the Director believed that a life sentence may be an appropriate sentence.
The Chief Justice informed the Premier that he proposed to formally amend the applicable Practice Note to require any prosecution to be brought in the
Supreme Court whenever the New South Wales or Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions believes a life sentence may be appropriate.
This would apply to some of the offences under the Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act (NSW) or any other offence for which the Parliament provided life
imprisonment as the maximum sentence.
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