A defence lawyer believes removing good character references for sexual offending is unlikely to make much difference at sentencing.

The National Party's latest policy would see judges no longer be allowed to consider positive testimonies about offenders.

Law Association Vice President Samira Taghavi told Mike Hosking that those references already carry limited weight in court.

She says judges don't put a lot of emphasis on good character references - unless they see one as completely relevant. 

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