Thursday, 16 November 2023

Bills

Corrections Amendment (Parole Reform) Bill 2023

Override statement

Anthony CARBINES (Ivanhoe – Minister for Police, Minister for Crime Prevention, Minister for Racing) (09:39): I rise to make a statement under section 31 of the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 explaining the exceptional circumstances that justify the inclusion of the override declaration in clauses 7, 8 and 9 of the Corrections Amendment (Parole Reform) Bill 2023.

New section 74AC: the bill introduces a new section 74AC to the corrections act which will prevent Mr Denyer from being released on parole unless he is in imminent danger of death or seriously incapacitated and as a result lacks the capacity to harm anyone. This mirrors the restrictions on parole for Julian Knight and Craig Minogue contained in sections 74AA and 74AB of the act.

Mr Denyer’s crimes were particularly heinous, and the bill will ensure the community is protected and that both the community and the families of Mr Denyer’s victims can have confidence that he will never be released until he can do no harm. The government accepts that this provision may be incompatible with Mr Denyer’s charter rights. New section 74AC therefore includes subsections providing that the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 does not apply to this provision and that those override declarations do not need to be re-enacted every five years, as is ordinarily required under section 31(7) of the charter. Consequently, the charter will have no application to this provision. In this exceptional case the charter is being overridden to ensure the community is protected from Mr Denyer and the significant risk he poses to community safety. This is consistent with the existing provisions that apply to Mr Knight and Mr Minogue, which include charter overrides.

In the bill new sections 74AAD and 74AAG also include subsections providing that the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 does not apply to either provision and that those override declarations do not need to be re-enacted every five years, as is ordinarily required under section 31(7) of the charter. Consequently, the charter will have no application to these provisions. The government accepts that in some limited scenarios these provisions may have consequences that are incompatible with the charter.

In this exceptional case the charter is being overridden to prevent victims of the most abhorrent crime from being retraumatised as part of the parole process and to minimise the additional stress inflicted upon them by the person who caused their ongoing suffering. Overriding the charter for these provisions is consistent with the approach previously taken to override the charter for existing provisions in the act that limit parole in relation to Mr Knight, Mr Minogue and people who have murdered police officers.