Parole Board

The Hon. H.M. GIROLAMO (14:52): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking questions of the Attorney-General regarding the South Australian Parole Board.

Leave granted.

The Hon. H.M. GIROLAMO: Last week, in the media, it was reported that Ms Eileen Culleton, the sister of a raped murder victim, is calling for an overhaul of our state's prison release system. In 1988, Ms Anne-Marie Culleton's killer, Mr Jonathan Peter Bakewell, was sentenced to life imprisonment and paroled in 2016. After breaching parole five times and testing positive for drugs 14 times since his release, the convicted rapist and murderer is now seeking parole for the sixth time.

Ms Culleton is now calling on South Australia to follow the UK's lead and deny parole to killers whose offences involve sex or sadism. She is further calling for the Parole Board's decision to be made public, which would bring our state in line with Queensland, Tasmania and Western Australia. My questions to the Attorney are:

1. Does the Attorney agree that South Australia's prison release system is in need of reform and, if so, what action is the state government taking to address this?

2. Does the Attorney consider that the publication of the Parole Board's decision would be in the best interests of the South Australian community?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (14:54): I thank the honourable member for her question. I have had the opportunity to speak with Ms Culleton on a number of occasions in the past. It is a very compelling position that she puts forward, and it is a tragic set of circumstances that led up to the death of her sister. It is completely understandable how strongly she feels about these issues.

In relation to the parole system, there was very significant change a little under a decade ago, if I am remembering correctly, to the way parole is granted in South Australia that put it squarely, I think as it should be, in the hands of the Parole Board. I think it is the Parole Board, with their expertise in this area, who are best placed to make decisions about parole. We don't have a proposal to change it away from the Parole Board as the experts being the ones who make these decisions.

I do understand when people call for changes to deal with the circumstances, the horrific circumstances, that have seen loved ones lost. There is the possibility in the South Australian context to have a sentence imposed without parole. For example, some of the offenders in the Snowtown murder cases did not have a non-parole period set, so there isn't a time that they can apply for parole. Those sorts of offenders can apply to the Supreme Court to have a non-parole period set, and I think that has happened in the case of at least one of the Snowtown offenders, and the Supreme Court has declined to do that. So there is the statutory ability for a court, in the worst possible cases, as some of those involved in the Snowtown murders were, to decline to set a non-parole period.