The Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Act (the Act) received Royal assent from the Governor-General on 17 December 2024 and the provisions relating to the Three Strikes regime came into force on 17 June 2025.
To fulfil a commitment in the National Party–ACT Party Coalition Agreement, the Government reinstated the Three Strikes regime that was repealed in 2022 with modifications to make the new regime more workable.
The Act:
covers the same 41 serious violent and sexual offences as the former legislation, with the addition of the new strangulation and suffocation offence;
introduced a new requirement that the Three Strikes regime will only apply when specified qualifying sentence thresholds are met (being sentences above 12 months for first strikes, and sentences above 24 months for second and third strikes);
reactivates strikes from the previous Three Strikes regime that meet these thresholds;
extends the use of the “manifestly unjust” exception to allow some judicial discretion to avoid very harsh outcomes and address outlier cases;
provides a limited benefit for guilty pleas to avoid re-traumatisation of victims, and to improve court delays; and
ensures that people who commit murder at second or third strike receive an appropriately lengthy non-parole period.
The Ministry of Justice will undertake a post-implementation review to assess the effect of the new Three Strikes regime.
How to find out about reactivated strikes from the previous Three Strikes regime
To find out if you have a strike from the previous Three Strikes regime that has been reactivated, there is more information on our Criminal History Check page(external link).