Page 2631 - Week 07 - Thursday, 3 August 2017
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the 23 recommendations made in Ian Callinan’s Review of the Parole System in Victoria and also the operation of the Sentence Administration Board (SAB). Regular examination of aspects of the criminal justice system provides reform opportunities to ensure the ACT is in line with other jurisdictions. It also enables contemporary best practice.
In March 2015, The Standing Committee on Justice and Community Safety tabled the Inquiry into Sentencing Report (the Sentencing Report). The Report contains 55 recommendations of which seven relate to parole orders.
In response to the Sentencing Report, the Government:
• agreed to one recommendation
- making technical amendments to s149 of the Crimes (Sentence Administration) Act 2005
• agreed in principle to two recommendations
- requiring the SAB to publish its decisions
- resourcing the SAB to support the publication
• did not agree to four recommendations
- a public interest test for parole
- giving courts powers to make parole orders
- providing for SAB discretion to determine the balance of a sentence in regards to breach actions
- setting out circumstances to revoke parole in legislation
Bail
In relation to the Minister’s comments on bail reviews, the Government remains up to date with bail reviews in other jurisdictions and considers whether any issues arise for the ACT from those reviews as they are made public.
On 14 February 2017, a motion was passed in the Legislative Assembly committing the Government to continue to monitor developments, including inquiries and reports, around Australia for ways to improve the ACT’s bail legislation.
In the ACT the Bail Act 1992 operates effectively and appropriately within the criminal justice framework.
Remanding people in custody should be used as a last resort in carefully confined circumstances, with a focus on reasonable and proportionate risk management.
Short of remanding every alleged offender in custody, there is always a risk that the alleged offender will reoffend. This risk is controlled by our bail laws including presumptions in relation to bail and the conditions of bail imposed by the court, and the role ACT Policing plays in ensuring that offenders comply with those conditions.
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