Sentencing for offences under s 101.6(1) of the Criminal Code (Cth) is to be assessed along two axes: the nature of the contemplated terrorist act and the nature and extent of the preparatory conduct. The seriousness of the contemplated act is always of fundamental importance and cannot be diminished by the limited extent of preparations. Even where there is genuine remorse, renunciation of extremist ideology, youth, and good prospects of rehabilitation, these mitigating factors are of substantially diminished weight in terrorism cases where general deterrence and denunciation are dominant sentencing considerations. A planned mass casualty event targeting civilians at a public gathering, where the offender's intention persisted until arrest, attracts a sentence in the order of 16 years after a guilty plea, notwithstanding strong personal mitigation.
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