Abbott v Queensland Parole Board

SUPREME COURT OF QUEENSLAND

CITATION:

Abbott v Queensland Parole Board [2016] QSC 22

PARTIES:

BRENDEN JAMES ABBOTT

(applicant)

v
QUEENSLAND PAROLE BOARD

(respondent)

FILE NO/S:

No 8667 of 2015

DIVISION:

Trial

PROCEEDING:

Application

ORIGINATING COURT:

Supreme Court at Brisbane

DELIVERED ON:

24 February 2016

DELIVERED AT:

Brisbane

HEARING DATE:

29 January 2016

JUDGE:

Dalton J

ORDER:

Decision of the Respondent dated 21 July 2015 set aside

CATCHWORDS:

ADMINISTRATIVE LAW – JUDICIAL REVIEW – GROUNDS OF REVIEW – RELEVANT CONSIDERATIONS – where the respondent decided to decline the applicant’s parole application – where the applicant seeks judicial review of that decision – whether the respondent failed to take into account relevant considerations when making that decision, and acted without evidence     

COUNSEL:

The applicant appeared in person

S A McLeod for the respondent

SOLICITORS:

Crown Solicitor for the respondent

1. Mr Abbott is currently serving sentences totalling just over 25 years.  He became eligible for parole on 7 September 2011 and has been refused parole for the fourth time.  He applies to review the decision of the respondent dated 21 July 2015. 

2. Mr Abbott’s full-time release date is 29 October 2020.  If he were released, either at this date or before it, he is unlikely to spend time in the community, for he is wanted by authorities in Western Australia on a charge of escape from lawful custody and also is liable to serve the balance of the sentence (over 3000 days) during which he escaped in Western Australia – pp121 and 144 of the exhibit bundle to Court Document 6.

   Overview

3. The application for parole with which I am concerned was dated 22 June 2014.  For various reasons the respondent deferred consideration of it until 23 January 2015 when it met and reached a preliminary view that Mr Abbott would be an unacceptable risk to the community on parole.  It notified him of this decision and he made submissions dated 19 February 2015 addressing the Parole Board’s concerns.  On 10 April 2015 the Parole Board granted him release on parole for the purposes of extradition to Western Australia only.  This decision was rescinded by the Parole Board because it was told that the authorities in Western Australia would not apply to extradite Mr Abbott while he was in prison – see the communication from the respondent of 23 June 2015 and its reasons on 4 August 2015.

4. Mr Abbott requested the documents which were received by the Queensland Parole Board and which led to its making the decision to rescind its April 2015 grant of parole.  He has been provided with some, but not all, of them.  He is suspicious as to why this is.  On this application I can see no valid reason for his suspicions.  It appears from the material which has been provided to Mr Abbott that the authorities in Western Australia rely on s 82(2) of the Service and Execution of Process Act 1992 (Cth).  They apparently also rely upon a policy consideration that it is in the…