Cherry Tang and Eden Blair

In June 2024, the High Court handed down its decision in R v Hatahet [2024] HCA 23 (HCA Judgment) on appeal from the New South Wales Court of Criminal Appeal (CCA) decision in Hatahet v R [2023] NSWCCA 305 (CCA judgment). The High Court unanimously held that a reduced chance of parole as a result of the operation of s 19ALB of the Crimes Act 1914 (Cth) (Crimes Act) cannot be taken into account in sentencing. Even though terrorist offenders are extremely unlikely to be released on parole, sentencing courts cannot take this into consideration when setting the length of the head sentence and the non-parole period. Section 19ALB requires exceptional circumstances be proven before someone who has committed a terrorism offence can be granted parole. This holding overturned the CCA decision that a sentence served with almost no chance of parole constitutes a more onerous period of imprisonment and, in this case, warranted a reduction in the head sentence.

Samuel Naylor

On 19 December 2023, Abdul Nacer Benbrika was released from custody after being detained for the best part of 20 years. He was released after Hollingworth J of the Victorian Supreme Court made orders replacing a continuing detention order (CDO) with an extended supervision order (ESO) pursuant to div 105A within Pt 5.3 of the Criminal Code (Cth) (Code). Division 105A is a Commonwealth legislative scheme of ‘post-sentence orders’ (PSOs) whose object is:

… to protect the community from serious Part 5.3 offences by providing that terrorist offenders who pose an unacceptable risk of committing such offences are subject to [a CDO or ESO].

Joseph McDonald

On 1 September 2021, the High Court handed down its judgment on a novel question of statutory interpretation in Director of Public Prosecutions Reference No 1 [2021] HCA 26 (DPP Reference No 1). The question for the Full Court was the interpretation of s 17 of the Crimes Act 1958 ...

Anton Moiseienko

In 2020, the Australian Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade (JSCFADT) held an inquiry into the potential introduction of corruption and human rights sanctions, also referred to as ‘Magnitsky’ sanctions. The inquiry culminated in a report calling on the government to ‘enact stand alone …