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The Commonwealth Parole Board Bill has been introduced to Parliament, three years after the Law Council of Australia (LCA) released its position paper on the issue.

It’s expected the new body will assume responsibility for parole decisions for those sentenced to Commonwealth offences, which currently rests with the Commonwealth Attorney General. Law Council of Australia President Juliana Warner has applauded the move.

“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,” she says.

In its 2022 Position Paper – Federal Parole Authority, the LCA argued such a body should have the resources and expertise to “properly afford prisoners procedural fairness” and “make decisions that give due weight to all relevant considerations, as required by the Crimes Act 1914 (Cth) (Crimes Act).

“The successful functioning of a federal parole authority will be determined by the extent to which it is underpinned by four key design principles: independence, transparency, procedural fairness, and accountability,” the Council submitted at the time.

Warner says the Attorney General has committed to reform that will improve the administration of justice and strengthen the rule of law. “Parole decisions are complex,” she says. “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.”

Warner says the Law Council of Australia’s long-term support of a federal parole authority stems from the risk of perceived political interference in parole decisions.

“All states and territories have implemented parole decision-making schemes that provide a degree of independence of primary decision making from the executive,” she says.

Warner says the Law Council looks forward to working with Parliament to ensure the proposed legislation results in “apolitical, consistent, and evidence-based decisions.”