Parole Breaches

The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD (15:41): Supplementary: as a matter of principle, Attorney, should an offender who breaches parole some six times have some sort of restrictions placed on them that don't apply to others?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (15:41): I thank the honourable member for his question and I understand where he is coming from, but I don't think it's a simple question in relation to the number of times. Of course, there are different sorts of breaches of parole that would dramatically have different impacts upon whether someone poses a risk to the community.

If it's a breach for being minutes late after a curfew as opposed to contacting someone that someone is prohibited from doing—as I say, I don't have in front of me what the breaches were or the nature and effect of those breaches, but the mere number of times probably doesn't describe everything about the safety that person would pose to the community.