In their submission, Johnstone et al suggested that sentencing guidelines may have an important role in providing transparency for the compliance process. Duty holders would know what to expect, the Courts would have advice on how to exercise their jurisdiction and there would be more consistency.359
Discussion
We see a potential difficulty with sentencing guidelines in that they may not be appropriately framed for an OHS offence. There may be unintended limits on a court from the application of such guidelines where they are more directed at a ordinary criminal breach rather than that under an OHS Act. It would be better for such guidelines to be tailored to suit OHS prosecutions.
