The Law Council of Australia (LCA) has welcomed federal legislation to establish a Commonwealth parole board.
LCA president Juliana Warner said: “The introduction of legislation to establish a Commonwealth Parole Board is warmly welcomed by the Law Council of Australia.”
“The Law Council has been a strong advocate for a federal parole board empowered to make independent, transparent, fair and accountable decisions regarding federal offenders.”
On Wednesday (8 October), LCA released a statement in response to the federal government’s introduction of this new bill.
It said: “The Attorney-General has today committed to undertaking significant reform to improve the administration of justice and strengthen the rule of law.”
In a statement, Attorney-General the Honourable Michelle Rowland MP said: “Decisions about whether a federal offender should be released into the community on parole should be made by law enforcement and other community safety experts, not by politicians.”
“The Commonwealth Parole Board will strengthen the public’s trust and confidence in the federal parole system by ensuring parole decisions are made by experts who are best placed to make robust assessments of risk when considering the protection of the community.”
LCA said: “One key reason we have been a long-term supporter of a federal parole authority is because it will address the risk of perceived political interference in parole decisions.”
In 2022, LCA released its position paper, which proposed changes to the then incumbent parole system – advocating for the establishment of a non-political independent parole authority, consistency of federal and state parole, the addition of interdisciplinary decision-making expertise on the authority and improved procedural fairness for federal offenders.
It noted: “Parole decisions are complex. They require expertise and resourcing to facilitate procedural fairness where community safety, effective rehabilitation, and human rights of prisoners, as well as the experience and perspectives of victims, all require respect and consideration.”
“The Commonwealth is currently the only jurisdiction in Australia where elected officials make primary decisions about parole. At the moment, once a federal offender is sentenced, the responsibility for determining parole decisions shifts to the federal Attorney-General,“ LCA said.
In its 2022 paper, LCA stressed the importance of the establishment of an independent parole authority. It said: “The risk of perceived and actual political interference is a key reason for ensuring decisions about the grant of parole to federal offenders be made by an independent decision-maker.”
“Independent parole decision-making bodies are widely accepted as improvements to the administration of justice, having been adopted throughout Australia. All states and territories have implemented parole decision-making schemes that provide a degree of independence of primary decision making from the executive.”
“While we are yet to conduct a detailed analysis of the two bills introduced today, the Law Council looks forward to working with the Parliament to ensure that the proposed legislation empowers a future Commonwealth Parole Board to make apolitical, consistent and evidence-based decisions.”
