Michelle Rowland (Greenway, Australian Labor Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

I thank honourable members for their contributions to the debate on the Commonwealth Parole Board bills. This legislation will ensure that decisions about the release and management of federal offenders are made by people who have the appropriate skills and experience to make decisions about an offender's prospects of rehabilitation and reintegration into the community and, ultimately, the risks they pose to community safety.

These bills will provide for the establishment of an independent Commonwealth Parole Board as a secondary statutory structure in the Attorney-General's Department. The members of the board will be independent, statutory office holders. The legislation will provide for the decision-making arrangements, structure and framework of the board to make independent, risk-informed decisions about the conditional release and management of federal offenders and other detained persons, in accordance with part 1B of the Crimes Act 1914. It will set out the membership of the board, the appointment process of board members and the mandatory requirements for board positions.

These requirements will ensure that the board's membership includes individuals who have a diverse range of skills, expertise, lived experience and knowledge of the needs of people and groups of people significantly affected by the board's decisions. The board will also retain discretion to consider all information that is known and relevant to a decision and will have the appropriate information-sharing powers to support their decision making.

To reinforce the board's independence, this legislation explicitly states that the board is not subject to direction from anyone in performing or exercising its functions or powers. To support transparency and accountability, the chair will be required to develop an annual report to be tabled in parliament on the board's performance and its functions. The bills will also provide for a legislative review to commence three years after the board's commencement. The amendments to part 1B of the Crimes Act will replace the Attorney-General with the board as the decision-maker for parole.

The purpose of parole will continue to be the rehabilitation and reintegration of federal offenders and the protection of the community. These amendments will ensure the board has key decision-making powers, including the power to make, refuse to make or amend parole orders for federal offenders and to deal with other relevant matters such as release on licence orders, breaches and revocation of parole or licence orders, overseas travel requests, and the ability to amend orders in certain circumstances.

The amendments to the Crimes Act will also provide the board with the discretion to manage statutory deadlines for people being considered for parole. The legislation also provides for the necessary transitional arrangements.

The establishment of the Commonwealth Parole Board will promote community safety and justice outcomes, as it will ensure these critical decisions are made by independent experts who are best placed to make the robust assessments of risk required to protect the community. I commend the bill to the House.

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