Northern Territory Numbered Acts Northern Territory Numbered ActsBefore section 5, in Part 3
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The Chairperson may require a prisoner to be brought before a meeting of the Board at which a matter relating to the prisoner is to be considered, if the Chairperson considers it necessary or desirable.
The Board may, in considering a matter, seek the advice or opinion of an expert on the matter.
(1) This section applies if the Board is considering the release on parole of a prisoner who is serving a term of imprisonment for life for the crime of murder.
(2) The Board may invite persons to make submissions on the matter to the Board, including the following persons:
(a) members of the victim's family;
(b) if the prisoner is an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander who identifies with a particular community of Aboriginals or Torres Strait Islanders – representatives of that community.
(3) In considering the matter, the Board must have regard to the principle that the public interest is of primary importance and, in doing so, must give substantial weight to the following matters:
(a) the protection of the community as the paramount consideration;
(b) the likely effect of the prisoner's release on the victim's family;
(c) if the prisoner is an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander who identifies with a particular community of Aboriginals or Torres Strait Islanders – the likely effect of the prisoner's release on that community.
(4) The Board must not make a parole order in relation to the prisoner unless the Board considers that the prisoner has cooperated satisfactorily in the investigation of the offence to identify the location, or the last known location, of the remains of the victim of the offence.
(5) For subsection (4), the cooperation may occur before or after the prisoner was sentenced to imprisonment.
(6) For subsection (4), the Board must take into account any report by the Commissioner of Police evaluating the prisoner's cooperation in the investigation of the offence that is tendered to the Board.
(7) The Commissioner of Police, in preparing a report as mentioned in subsection (6), must evaluate the following:
(a) the nature and extent of the prisoner's cooperation;
(b) the timeliness of the cooperation;
(c) the truthfulness, completeness and reliability of any information or evidence provided by the prisoner;
(d) the significance and usefulness of the prisoner's cooperation.
(8) The Board must give reasons for any decision or direction of the Board on the matter and those reasons must be included in the record of its proceedings kept under section 3F(7).