The Court of Criminal Appeal held that s 20(1)(b) of the Crimes Act 1914 (Cth) does not create a statutory presumption requiring imprisonment for Commonwealth child sex offences, and that the sentencing judge materially erred by requiring the offender to establish 'exceptional circumstances' before a non-custodial sentence could be imposed. On re-sentence for a single transmission of one child abuse image at the low end of objective seriousness, the Court held the s 17A threshold was not crossed and imposed a 2-year community correction order under s 8 of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (NSW) picked up by s 20AB of the Crimes Act 1914 (Cth), finding this preferable to a recognizance under s 20(1)(a) because the mandatory conditions for child sex offences would serve no practical purpose given the applicant's inevitable deportation. The Court adjusted the non-parole period for the co-existing drug sentence by reducing it by one month but did not otherwise interfere with that sentence, declining to conduct a full Kentwell re-sentencing where the error was discrete and no challenge was made to the drug sentence.
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