Serious concerns have been raised about the accuracy of the government data which stakeholders have used for their submissions to the ACT Assembly's ongoing inquiry into dangerous driving.
Tom McLuckie, who is advocating for an independent review of sentencing in the ACT, brought the data flaws to the attention of one of the stakeholders, the Justice Reform Initiative, which is now reassessing its submission.
It is understood the ACT Law Society also used the same flawed data in its submission.
Mr McLuckie, who has analysed ACT sentencing data in detail and has access to the database, was worried if the data concerning one of the most serious of driving offences - that of culpable driving causing death - had been misrepresented and that data has then been used by a variety of agencies and stakeholders to support their positions, this would badly skew a range of outcomes and views.
"The data flaw inflates the number of culpable driving causing death offences over the past 10 years from nine to 15, and also the time that offenders spent in prison as a result of this offence, which is not the same as the custodial sentence pronounced in the judgement," Mr McLuckie said.
"We should be able to trust the government's data - but we can't.
"I raised the issue of duplicates in the database with the Attorney-General's office almost a month ago and their response was they would 'get back to me'.
"This still hasn't happened. This is just not good enough. It also means that the data that the government is also reporting to the ABS national database is flawed.
"Surely if the data our ACT government is using to justify sentencing outcomes is flawed, this only adds to the necessity to undertake a full independent review of sentencing and bail here in the ACT."
In an effort to head off public pressure to hold the independent judicial review - backed by an online campaign and e-petition which gathered thousands of supporters - last month ACT Attorney General Shane Rattenbury announced a new law and sentencing advisory council.
However, since that announcement no further key details, such as the council's draft terms of reference, have been offered.
In August 2022, Mr Rattenbury also commissioned a study to be undertaken by the Justice and Community Safety Directorate around bail practices - concentrating heavily on the question of whether recent bail outcomes meant a rethink of existing attitudes around the granting or denial of bail was overdue.
Police-generated data has revealed over 940 breaches of bail by offenders in the ACT for the first half of the year, placing the territory on target to record the highest number of breaches ever.
Australian Federal Police Association president Alex Caruana said to date, no updates of any substance had been provided to the community about either the study, or the council.
"Again, anything to do with the judicial system seems to have a lack of transparency and accountability," Mr Caruana said.
"It seems that the Attorney-General rushed this announcement to try and appease the community."
