In South Australia, it is permissible for courts to have regard to a Minister's second reading speech to ascertain the purpose of legislation, and Devine v Solomijczuk (1983) 32 SASR 538 is superseded on this point. Where Parliament enacts retrospective legislation in unmistakable terms that has the effect of prolonging a prisoner's time in custody, the courts are obliged to give effect to the law and cannot reduce the original sentence to counteract the statutory modification. The State Parliament, as a plenary legislature, possesses the power to enact legislation with the effect of increasing the period a prisoner must serve, and the Court has no jurisdiction to prevent it from doing so.
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