One-punch laws: knee-jerk reaction that protects alcohol industry

Controversial ''one-punch'' laws are being criticised as unnecessary and as a shield to protect the liquor industry.

President of the NSW Bar Association Phillip Boulten, SC, said the NSW government should turn its focus to the liquor industry instead of introducing the proposed laws. "The association is concerned about knee-jerk legislative responses when emotions are running high,'' Mr Boulten said.

''Rather than simply proposing reactive changes to the criminal law on the run, the government needs to look at liquor industry reform to strengthen restrictions on the availability of alcohol."

Mr Boulten said there had been a frenzy of uninformed criticism and personal attacks on the integrity of Justice Stephen Campbell after he sentenced Kieran Loveridge on Friday to a maximum of six years' jail, with a four-year non-parole period, after he pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

Loveridge, 19, who fatally attacked Thomas Kelly, 18, was charged with manslaughter instead of murder after he offered to plead guilty to the lesser charge.

While he had the deepest sympathy for the family of Thomas Kelly, Mr Boulten said knee-jerk criticism of judges and the court system undermined confidence in the courts.

''Judicial officers can only determine matters in good faith on the basis of the evidence before them, and any suggestions to the contrary are frankly offensive,'' he said.

Greens MP David Shoebridge said the government should shift its focus to the alcohol industry.

A spokesman for Australian Hotels Association NSW welcomed ''government initiatives designed to increase personal responsibility and change the culture of violence''.