When sentencing for a Commonwealth offence carrying a maximum of life imprisonment, the sentencing judge must first determine whether the gravity of the offence warrants a life sentence; if not, the judge must fix a determinate head sentence according to proper principle without 'reducing' from a notional life sentence. A determinate sentence that effectively amounts to a de facto life sentence should not be imposed unless a life sentence is directly imposed. The s 16G discount range of 30-33 per cent is not fixed and may be adjusted where the resulting sentence would not be appropriate to the circumstances under s 17A.
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