Slade Brockman (WA, Deputy-President) Share this | Hansard source

I too rise to speak on the Commonwealth Parole Board Bill 2025. I wasn't actually planning to speak on this bill. I only made the decision to rise on this bill after hearing members of the government and the Greens speak on it, because I think there is a really important point at stake here. We heard from those opposite and those at the end of the chamber that state governments, in particular, have moved to this independent bureaucratic approach to parole boards. Whilst that's not universally true, it is true particularly in the larger jurisdictions. But—as I think Senator Scarr, who is sitting in front of me, would know—in Queensland, as well as in New South Wales and in Victoria, there have been severe problems with those independent bureaucratic parole boards over the years, and there has been significant evolution of those independent parole boards over the years. The mistakes of their initial formulation have become apparent over time, and corrections were made.

The trouble with the approach the government is bringing to the table is that it has not taken on those learnings. It has not taken on the fact that there are problems with the approach that was initially developed over 20 years ago, in terms of independent parole boards. We've seen in all three of those jurisdictions—Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria—a severe loss of trust at various times with the independent parole board process because their approach failed in various respects.

Principally, I think, that is in terms of failing the victims. In the way the process was originally formulated, victims had no means to be informed about the process of parole or about when parole was potentially going to become available. They had no way of feeding their views into that process. So you had a situation where decisions were being made and those who were most impacted by the decision, the victims of the original crimes, had no role. This was a problem that was repeated in multiple jurisdictions across Australia—in Queensland, in New South Wales and in Victoria—and had to be addressed.

Yet, even with that learning and experience, for whatever reason, it was decided that that was not going to be a part of this bill. You have victims of serious crimes—Senator Blyth just outlined the kinds of crimes that are covered under federal law and would be covered under a federal independent parole board of the sort outlined in this bill—who carry the burden of those crimes for the rest of their lives. There are families who carry the burden of those crimes for the rest of their lives. Yet, in formulating this bill, the government has taken no account of the very clear and necessary ability for victims' families to be informed as to timing and likely outcomes or to feed into the process and provide their own view on the matter of parole. That, in and of itself, is enough of an oversight to say, 'Back to the drawing board.' That, in and of itself, is enough to say, 'It's time we actually take this off the table, take this back to the drawing board and start to look at it again.'

There are checks and balances in the current system. The first law officer has the responsibility in the current system of approving paroles, and that is as it should be. If you're going to move on from the system, you should, at the very least, have an improvement.