Commonwealth Numbered Acts

CRIMES LEGISLATION AMENDMENT ACT 1992 No. 164 of 1992 - SECT 24

24. After section 17A of the Principal Act, the following section is inserted:
Restriction on imposing sentences for certain minor offences

"17B.(1) If:

   (a)  a person is convicted of one or more section 17B offences relating to
        property, money or both, whose total value is not more than $2,000;
        and

   (b)  the person has not previously been sentenced to imprisonment for any
        federal, State or Territory offence; the court convicting the person
        is not to pass a sentence of imprisonment for that offence, or for any
        of those offences, unless the court is satisfied that there are
        exceptional circumstances that warrant it.

"(2) In calculating the total value for the purposes of paragraph (1)(a), a
section 17B offence which the court, with the consent of the person charged,
has taken into account in passing sentence on the person for another federal
offence (whether a section 17B offence or not) is taken to be an offence of
which the person is convicted.

"(3) In this section:
'section 17B offence' means an offence against any of sections 29, 29A, 29B,
29C, 29D, 71 and 72 or an offence against a provision of a federal law
prescribed for the purposes of this section.".