Parole board never knew about gunman’s terror links: judge
A US report has pointed to the actions of Melbourne gunman Yacqub Khayre in criticising the US refugee relocation deal. Photo: AAP
Victoria’s parole board had no idea gunman Yacqub Khayre was on a terror watch-list despite being contacted by a federal agency asking for his current address and phone number a month before the Brighton attack.
Head of the Adult Parole Board Judge Peter Couzens says the board was contacted by a federal agency a month before Khayre killed a man and injured three police.
The email from the agency said: “I am conducting inquiries in relation to the contact details of Khayre who is currently on parole. I have property to return to him from a counter terrorism investigation”.
“This is a month before the incident,” Mr Couzens told 3AW on Wednesday.
“You would have thought that if a federal authority were concerned about this person as a risk, they would have been more concerned about that rather than returning property to him.”
The board says it was not aware he was on any terror watch list or that he was any danger to the community or “it would have acted”.
“We were not told anything along those lines either at the time of making the order or subsequently,” Mr Couzens told 3AW on Wednesday.
“There was nothing that came to the notice of the board that would give it cause for concern.”
Mr Couzens said such information should “absolutely” be shared with the parole board and Corrections Victoria.
The board had previously denied parole to Khayre when he was first eligible to apply, rejecting an application in 2015 on the advice of Corrections Victoria, who said his behaviour in prison needed to improve.
He then took part in prison programs for drugs, alcohol and violence and improved his behaviour, leading to parole being granted in December 2016.
“On my review of the file, the decision of the board to release this person on parole for a relatively short period of time on strict conditions was a proper decision,” Mr Couzens said.
Khayre was was complying with his parole conditions until he killed a man, took a woman hostage and injured three police in a shootout on Monday.
His parole would have ended in December 2017.
Khayre was also part of a government-funded de-radicalisation program run by the Islamic Council of Victoria.
PM moots parole ban for potential terrorists
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has suggested that ASIO and the federal police are included in parole decisions involving people on terror watch lists.
Mr Andrews’ comments came as Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said he would ask the states to ban parole for violent offenders and those with any link to terrorism when he meets with premiers at the Council of Australian Governments meeting on Friday.
“I want ASIO and the Australian Federal Police not just to be providing advice, but to be directly involved in any decision to grant parole to anybody on that watch list,” Mr Andrews told ABC News on Wednesday.
“We need to make sure all of our agencies aren’t just sharing information, but sharing responsibility to keep Australians safe.”
Mr Turnbull said it was a “toxic combination” if people had links to terrorism and a violent criminal history, like Kharyre did.
“We certainly want to make sure that people like Khayre are not released on parole and we are going to have a very serious discussion about this at COAG,” he told Melbourne’s radio 3AW on Wednesday.
“I don’t want to make this a partisan or a political issue, this is a question of national leadership and national responsibility.”