A parity challenge cannot succeed by mechanically isolating and weighting individual sentencing circumstances against those of a co-offender; the court must assess whether the sentence was reasonably open having regard to the totality of circumstances through instinctive synthesis. Declarations under s 6AAA of the Sentencing Act 1991 (Vic) cannot be used to impugn the sentence actually imposed. The question whether s 16AC of the Crimes Act 1914 (Cth) permits consideration of protective custody conditions in fixing the informer's discount was left open.
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