Chris Spyrou

speaker

12,818 appearances 108 recordings 1 series first heard Apr 2026 last heard yesterday

Chris Spyrou’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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recordings per month · last 12 months

Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 108 in all, peaking in Aug 2026 with 30.

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The Briefing · BONUS: No more ‘good blokes’: Inside the fight to scrap character references · 15 Aug 2026 podcast

Showing remorse or cooperating with police. voice-verified

Judges can also consider things like victim impact statements and character references. voice-verified

Now, character references are written testimonials from people vouching for the convicted person's good character. voice-verified

You might remember former Prime Minister John Howard wrote one for Cardinal George Pell ahead of his sentencing in 2019. voice-verified

Multiple were also submitted during the sentencing of one of Australia's voice-verified

Worst child sex offenders, child care worker, Ashley Paul Griffith. voice-verified

Now that's something a campaign led by survivors of child sexual abuse have been working for years to have banned when sentencing child sex offenders specifically. voice-verified

And earlier this month, they were handed a massive win in one state. voice-verified

Harrison James is one of those survivors, and he joins me now. voice-verified

Harrison, welcome back to the briefing. voice-verified

Talk me through the voice-verified

through the your reference ain't relevant campaign and your latest milestone. voice-verified

Mentioned in my introduction, a few high profile examples that our listeners will will understand and to pinpoint just what this looks like. voice-verified

But I guess for yourself and for the victim survivors you work with, who are the people that are writing character references? voice-verified

Just in general, some examples just to to paint a bit of a picture here? voice-verified

Initially the New South Wales government was looking to abolish character references for all crimes, not just limited to sexual offences. voice-verified

Your campaign is centered on sexual offences. voice-verified

The Greens and Libs have well, they pushed back on that and then eventually what passed was a watered down law. voice-verified

That law is a win for you. voice-verified

You characterise it as a win. voice-verified

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