Mathematical comparisons between percentage discounts for guilty pleas in different cases should be eschewed as conflicting with the instinctive synthesis approach to sentencing. A sentencing judge who fixes a non-parole period at a very high proportion of the total effective sentence (here, over 81 per cent) must give reasons for doing so. Sentencing on the basis of an incorrect statutory threshold quantity for a drug offence is a material error that vitiates the sentencing discretion.
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