The Court consolidated four key principles for terrorism sentencing: (1) rehabilitation plays a minor role for the most serious terrorism offences; (2) mitigating factors including rehabilitation and subjective factors are given substantially less weight; (3) for anticipatory offences, proximity of the planned attack does not necessarily determine objective seriousness — the focus must be on the offender's conduct and intention; (4) youth considerations are moderated for serious and dangerous terrorism offending. The utilitarian value of a guilty plea must be separately assessed as an objective factor under s 16A(2)(g) of the Crimes Act 1914 (Cth), distinct from any subjective discount for contrition under s 16A(2)(f). Harrison J's observations raise the question whether excessively punitive custodial conditions for terrorism offenders may be counterproductive to rehabilitation.
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