Page 4576 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 26 November 2019
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Let me assure you, Madam Assistant Speaker, that this bill does not reflect any softening of the government’s approach. What the introduction of this scheme represents is a considered and effective step towards the government’s commitment to reducing recidivism by 25 per cent by 2025. By giving parolees credit for successful time on parole in the community, we are encouraging the offenders to apply for parole and to avail themselves of the support and the opportunities that are provided by parole. The more people we can support to successfully complete parole periods in the community, the better outcomes we will have for our entire community.
Recognising that parole is a different experience for each parolee, and wanting to maximise the benefits realised both by the parolee and by the community, we have given the court and the Sentence Administration Board discretion to allow parole time credit to be counted against time remaining on a sentence in special circumstances where it otherwise does not automatically apply. The advantage of providing the court and the Sentence Administration Board with this discretion is that it allows for an evaluation to take place of how the offender has engaged with their integration into the community and what commitment they have shown to their long-term rehabilitation.
Taken as a whole, this bill represents yet another example of the government’s ongoing attention to the criminal justice system, in order to build communities and not prisons, and to develop Canberra as a restorative city. I commend the bill to the Assembly.
MR RATTENBURY (Kurrajong—Minister for Climate Change and Sustainability, Minister for Corrections and Justice Health, Minister for Justice, Consumer Affairs and Road Safety and Minister for Mental Health) (3.06), in reply: I thank members for their support of this bill today. I introduced the Sentencing (Parole Time Credit) Legislation Amendment Bill to the Assembly in September. The bill introduces a parole time credit scheme into the ACT by amending the Crimes (Sentence Administration) Act 2005 and the Crimes (Sentencing) Act 2005.
Parole is a cornerstone of our criminal justice system, aiding rehabilitation and reintegration into society by allowing eligible offenders to finish their sentence in the community, subject to conditions set by the Sentence Administration Board. Currently in the ACT, while an offender is on parole they are not taken to have served any of the remaining period of imprisonment unless the parole order ends without being cancelled. Currently, when a parolee is returned to custody following a breach of parole conditions, they are liable to serve the remainder of the sentence that was outstanding at the time they were released.
When I presented this bill, I provided the Assembly with an overview of the provisions of the bill—namely, that new part 7.5A in the sentence administration act introduces a general rule that parole time credit applies to offenders who have had their parole order cancelled.
It provides exceptions to this rule for serious offenders who commit further serious offences while on parole, family violence offenders who commit further family violence offences while on parole, and offenders who commit any offences within
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