Child killers and murderers convicted of multiple homicides will be subject to tighter parole laws under legislation tabled in Queensland parliament.
The proposal allows the president of the Parole Board of Queensland to block offenders from being granted early release for up to 10 years at a time.
There will also be no limit on the number of times the president can make that declaration, meaning an individual prisoner could face multiple 10-year parole denials.
Police Minister Mark Ryan says the reforms will be the strongest in Australia and are aimed at protecting victim's families and removing the ability for some prisoners to make repeated parole applications.
"This is about targeting those who commit the worst crimes with laws that protect the victim's families from unnecessary trauma," he said.
"Those life-sentenced prisoners who have killed a child or committed multiple murders have no right to expect they will get parole.
"In fact, they may never get parole.
"And under the legislation we are proposing they may never even get to apply for parole."
Prisoner's will need to prove to the board they do not pose a threat to the community before parole is granted.
The legislation also includes amendments to the 'no body, no parole' framework, to restrict non-cooperative prisoners from reapplying until they chose to provide new information.
The timeliness of a prisoner's co-operation will also be considered as a way to incentivise earlier prisoner cooperation to help provide closure to a victim's family and friends sooner.
This means that when determining a no-body-no-parole matter, the board must place greater emphasis on whether the prisoner gave information to authorities in relation to the victim's location in a timely manner.
Australian Associated Press
