They were damning statements.
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“The behaviour on this occasion, taking into account the victim and the trauma that little girl endured, probably deserves more than that,” the magistrate said.
“There’s only so much I can do, and I’m restricted by the legislation.”
The comments were made by Magistrate Michael Stoddart in sentencing a young mother in yet another horrifying case of child neglect.
Magistrate Stoddart’s frustration has echoed the frustration felt by many with NSW being the only state in the country which doesn’t allow judges or magistrates to consider imposing a jail sentence for the most serious cases of child neglect.
This realisation led the Illawarra Mercury to launch the State of Neglect campaign in May of last year.
It called for an end to New South Wales being “the state of neglect”.
It was noted at the time our laws for animal neglect were in many ways stricter than our laws for neglecting our own children.
Well, that is about to change.
After a review of sentencing for child neglect cases, the NSW Government will introduce a jail term of up to two years for the most serious child neglect cases in this state.
The campaign, championed by Mercury court reporter Shannon Tonkin, has been recognised nationally for its significance.
Yet the most important part of any campaign is actually facilitating or provoking change.
With this change, we hope to see an end or a reduction in the cases such as the ‘House of Horrors’ trial which sparked this campaign.
In what the magistrate in that case described as the worst case of child neglect he’d seen, children were forced to live in “near uninhabitable” conditions.
Hopefully these changes mean less parents ignore their most basic of responsibilities – to care and provide for the lives they bring into this world.
Thank you to the lawmakers for taking us from the state of neglect, towards being the state of change.