A total effective sentence of 5 years' imprisonment (with 3-year NPP) for possession and access offences involving over 317,000 files of child abuse material accumulated over 7.5 years was held to be comfortably within range. Payment for child abuse material may aggravate, but accessing freely available material is not a mitigating factor. Where a sentencing judge selects the least serious charge as the base sentence, relatively large cumulation on more serious charges is a necessary and permissible consequence, and does not of itself indicate manifest excess. Family hardship under s 16A(2)(p) of the Crimes Act 1914 (Cth) is a directly relevant sentencing consideration for federal offences without requiring the common law threshold of 'exceptional' circumstances.
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