Media Release
Embargoed until 00:01 a.m. (AEDT) Wednesday 11 March 2026
A new report released today examining the sentencing of federal crime in Victoria in the five years to 30 June 2023 finds that the most common federal crime being sentenced in Victoria is using a carriage service (such as a mobile phone or computer) to menace, harass or offend another person.
The report, which focuses on criminal offences legislated by the Commonwealth Government such as terrorism offences and defrauding Commonwealth agencies, found that there were over 6,700 charges of the carriage service offence sentenced in Victoria, accounting for 38% of all federal offences sentenced in Victoria in the five-year period. This offence might involve, for example, someone repeatedly calling or texting their ex-partner to abuse them. The reason this is a federal offence, and not a Victorian offence, is that the crime is committed using a telecommunications service or the internet, which falls within the remit of the Commonwealth Government. Cases with this offence were most commonly prosecuted by Victoria Police, usually involved family violence, and were frequently sentenced alongside a breach of an intervention order and/or a bail-related offence, meaning most of these people were also subject to other court orders.
Further, another common type of federal offence sentenced in Victoria is using a computer or phone to possess, access or distribute child abuse material. Again, this type of offending falls within the Commonwealth Government’s remit because it involves the internet. This was the most common type of federal crime sentenced in the County and Supreme Courts, which hear the most serious criminal cases in Victoria, with 853 charges sentenced in the five-year period (about 170 charges per year).
Other key findings of the report include:
- Federal crime makes up a significant part of Victorian courts’ workload: in the five-year period, there were 17,618 federal crimes sentenced in 9,570 cases in adult courts in Victoria. That means there are about 3,500 federal offences sentenced in about 2,000 cases per year. Federal crime therefore makes up 2% of cases in the Magistrates’ Court and 10% of cases in the higher courts in Victoria.
- Victoria Police prosecutes most federal crime in Victoria: 70% of cases involving federal offences were prosecuted by Victoria Police, especially the crime of using a carriage service to menace, harass or offend another person. Another 11% of cases were prosecuted by the Victorian and Commonwealth Directors of Public Prosecutions (together 11% of cases), and the most common federal crime they prosecuted was accessing or distributing child abuse material. The Australian Taxation Office also prosecuted over 3,500 taxation offences in 307 cases, and Australia Pacific Airports prosecuted 542 cases, mostly involving unlawful parking at Melbourne Airport.
- Most federal crimes are committed by men: most federal offenders were male (79% in the Magistrates’ Court and 89% in the County and Supreme Courts). This is to be expected given that the most common forms of federal offending involve family violence and child abuse material offences, which research consistently shows are overwhelmingly committed by male offenders.
- The most common sentence type in federal cases was a fine: in the Magistrates’ Court, which dealt with 90% of federal cases during the five-year period, half of the 4,353 cases with a federal crime as the most serious offence resulted in a fine (50.2%). This is not surprising given the broad range of crimes that are legislated by the Commonwealth Government. For instance, 429 of those cases involved offences of unlawful parking at Melbourne Airport, which usually occurred because someone unsuccessfully challenged an infringement notice and received a fine in court.
- There was a high rate of fines for using a carriage service to menace, harass or offend: of the 6,798 charges of this offence sentenced during the five-year period, 38% resulted in a fine. The report suggests that one of the reasons for the relatively high rate of fines for this offence is the complexity that courts face when sentencing Victorian and Commonwealth offences in the same case. In most of these cases, there was a Victorian offence that received a more serious penalty, such as a community correction order or imprisonment. And when that happens, courts must sentence the federal and state offences separately, meaning courts are left with relatively few options but to impose a fine for the offence of using a carriage service to menace, harass or offend.
- The longest prison sentences in federal cases were for terrorism offending: 848 people received immediate imprisonment where a federal crime was the most serious offence in the case; the median sentence was 9 months’ imprisonment. 81 people received sentences of 10 years’ imprisonment or more – of those, 9 people received sentences of 20 years’ imprisonment or more, 7 in cases involving terrorism-related offending.
Quotes Attributable to Sentencing Advisory Council Director Stan Winford
‘Sentencing federal offences is one of the most challenging things a judge or magistrate will have to do. Federal sentencing law is incredibly complex, especially when there are Victorian and federal crimes in the same case, and courts around the country are expected to sentence federal crime consistently, even though there is very little public information about what other courts are doing.’
‘Our aim with this report is to provide some much-needed information to courts about how federal crimes are being sentenced in Victoria, and help to promote more consistency in how they are sentenced. It is a matter of fairness and equality before the law that crimes are sentenced consistently. It is now 20 years since the Australian Law Reform Commission published Same Crime, Same Time, a report with recommendations to improve the sentencing of federal offenders, and the complexities highlighted in this report show why it remains just as important today to consider implementing those recommendations.’
The report, Commonwealth Offences Sentenced in Victoria, uses court data to present a profile of all federal offences sentenced in Victoria in the five years to 30 June 2023. It analyses which agencies are prosecuting federal crimes, who is committing federal crimes, and how those crimes are being sentenced. Download the report (available on the morning of 11 March 2026) from the Sentencing Advisory Council’s website at www.sentencingcouncil.vic.gov.au.
About the Sentencing Advisory Council: the Council is an independent statutory body established in 2004. It has a number of legislative functions, including conducting research on sentencing, consulting on sentencing matters, publishing sentencing statistics, and advising the Attorney-General on sentencing matters.
