The totality principle from Mill v The Queen continues to apply when sentencing for offences closely related in time and character to interstate offences, notwithstanding the deeming effect of the Prisoners (Interstate Transfer) Act 1983. The proper approach remains to ask what the effective head sentence would have been had all offences been committed in one jurisdiction and sentenced at one time. Section 28(8) of the Prisoners (Interstate Transfer) Act provides power to fix a new non-parole period when cumulating a Victorian sentence on a translated interstate sentence, and s 28(3) does not preclude this where the new non-parole period merely extends (rather than reviews) the interstate non-parole period.
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