Another prong to add to the 'straightforward' part of the judge's comment.
Holdom, after keeping quiet after his original plea of not guilty, a strategic measure , and after having fired two court appointed barristers, held firm right up until the trial was on the doorstep.
Then he changed his plea to guilty. The reasons for this process were: pleading not guilty meant he remained on remand all that time while the panoply of a jury trial was convened. Remand time as a not guilty pleader is a lot easier than being held awaiting trial on a guilty plea.
Having pleaded guilty, he is entitled to some consideration in the matter of a discount as to when he can apply ( apply doesn't mean get it, but merely the right to apply for it ) for parole some time in the distant future, as long away as the judge declares.
Ordinarily, since he kept the court in suspense with his not guilty plea, and only declared himself guilty 1 week before , his entitlement to consideration is heavily reduced, by about 17%... but his lawyer would have told him it was the only way, no other way would he ever see the light of day.... hence, last minute guilty plea, he was playing the averages and also playing up to the crowd inside the Supermax prison where he will be sent.
This is where the unstraightforward part possibly begins, as , while Holdom is entitled to a reduction of his years in regard to parole in the future, due to the guilty plea, and the judge is obliged to take that into consideration, NSW also has a law that obligates judges to regard some crimes as so heinous, so vile, so far removed from normal human behavior that the obligation to consider Life without Parole is equally obliged to be considered in the light of public expectation. Never to be released.
And there are prisoners in NSW, and elsewhere who are under that interdiction. Regardless of what changes in life in general terms over the next 50, 60 years, these sentences are laid down as permanent fixtures, and are unchangeable without political interference, and no politician would be silly enough to take that cause on.
It isn't a sentence that is given out randomly, but I expect it , in this case. Interestingly, there is a special section of the supermax and specially trained guards assigned to 'assist' these prisoners, and lots of programs, and processes thought up by psychiatrists, medical advice, psych advice, all to keep them alive as long as possible.
