Commentary on provisions of Act New section 304C Reduction in sentence
This new section provides that a person who has been convicted of a service offence following a plea of guilty in the Court Martial may receive a reduction in their sentence in return for assistance that they have given, or offered to give, to an investigator or prosecutor pursuant to an agreement with the Director. Subsection (1)(b) refers to assistance in relation to any offence (not just service offences).
	The effect of subsections (4) and (5) is that the power in subsection (2) to reduce a sentence overrides provisions in other legislation fixing minimum sentences or, in the case of a sentence fixed by law, affecting how a judge advocate determines the minimum period of imprisonment or detention that a person must serve, so the judge advocate could impose a sentence which is less than would otherwise be required.
	The power in subsection (2) is also available to courts that substitute a sentence when dealing with appeals from the Court Martial. This is because sections 16A(2) and 41(3) of the Court Martial Appeals Act 1968 give the Court Martial Appeal Court and the Supreme Court the same powers as the Court Martial had when originally sentencing.