Carol Brown (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) Share this | Hansard source

As I've already indicated, we will not be supporting these amendments. I will go to the reasons why we don't believe these amendments are necessary. With regard to matters to be considered for transfer, before making a decision the Attorney-General already considers all of the circumstances of the case, including the factors in the International Transfer of Prisoners Statement of Policy, which is publicly available and a copy of which is provided to the prisoner when they are making their application. The factors outlined in the statement of policy are broad and currently include sentence enforcement; the extent to which the transfer would assist the prisoner's rehabilitation and reintegration; community safety; humanitarian considerations; dual citizenship; and relevant law enforcement and prosecutorial agency views.

I note that the criteria that Senator Shoebridge would insert into the act do not include sentence enforcement—that is, the amendments would not require the Attorney-General to consider the very important question of whether transfer of a prisoner to another country would result in the appropriate enforcement of that prisoner's existing sentence. That is a very significant omission, as the difference between sentencing laws in different countries can sometimes have the consequence that transfer to another country results in a prisoner's effective sentence being dramatically shortened or, indeed, lengthened.

Also, with regard to written reasons for decisions, all decisions by the Attorney-General are reviewable under the Administrative Decisions (Judicial Review) Act 1977, and reasons for a decision may be obtained pursuant to section 13 of the act.