RECOMMENDATIONS

Recommendation 1

2.68    The committee recommends that the Australian Government review the operation of the mandatory minimum penalties applied to aggravated people smuggling offences under section 236B of the Migration Act 1958, with particular reference to:

• alternative approaches to mandatory minimum sentencing provisions, including where judicial officers are given discretion to impose lesser sentences where they are satisfied that the circumstances would make it unjust to impose the prescribed sentence for an offence;
• options for differentiating between the organisers of people smuggling operations and boat crew of these operations in sentencing; and
• specific concerns raised during this inquiry regarding Australia's human rights obligations under international law.

Recommendation 2

2.69    The committee recommends that the Australian Government facilitate and support further deterrence and awareness raising activities in relation to people smuggling offences, with a focus on relevant communities in Indonesia.

Recommendation 3

2.70    The committee recommends that the Senate should not pass the Bill.

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