MULTIPLE MURDERERS —
PAROLE
24. Hon MICHAEL MISCHIN to the Leader of the House
representing the Attorney General:
I refer to the Sentence
Administration Amendment (Multiple Murderers) Act 2018 that came into effect on
13 December 2018.
(1) How many, and
which, multiple murderers has the Attorney General considered under the act,
and when?
(2) How many and
for which offenders has the Attorney General issued directions to the Prisoners
Review Board; and what were those directions, and when were they issued?
(3) What criteria
did the Attorney General apply in making each of those directions and what were
his reasons for making those directions?
(4) Are those
criteria and the Attorney General's reasons recorded in written form?
If not, why not? If so, I call upon him to table those criteria and reasons.
(5) Has the
Attorney General received submissions to extend the operation of this act to
other murderers so as to provide their secondary victims the comfort offered to
the few who benefit from this legislation; if so, how many, when and from whom;
and what has been his response?
(6) When will
the Attorney General introduce legislation to extend the operation of this act
to other murderers, or does he not consider the uncertainty and suffering of
their secondary victims to be equally worthy of relief?
Hon SUE ELLERY replied:
I thank the honourable member for some notice of the
question.
(1)–(2)
On 13 December 2018, the Attorney General
directed the Prisoners Review Board to suspend the operation of sections
12A(2), 13(4) and 13(5) of the Western Australian Sentence Administration Act
2003 with respect to three prisoners: Catherine Birnie, William Mitchell and
Peter Maloney. Each of these directions took effect from 14 December 2018 and
are specified to cease to have effect on 13 December 2024.
(3)–(4) As requested, I table the directions that
relate to these questions.
[See paper 2394.]
(5) No. The Attorney General has not received any formal
submissions of this nature.
(6) Prior to
the 2017 election, the McGowan government committed to empower the Attorney
General to suspend parole for mass murderers and serial killers. The Sentence
Administration Amendment (Multiple Murderers) Act 2018 achieves this election
commitment.