Editorial: Day release of killer Reginald Arthurell is a slap in the face to victims’ families

EDITORIAL: WE would hope the Parole Board would do everything in its power to see that Arthurell remains locked up for as long as legally possible.

THERE’S an old expression that says the definition of insanity is trying the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. It might also serve as a pretty good motto — should they be looking for one — for the NSW Serious ­Offenders Review Council.

That’s because today convicted murder Reginald Kenneth Arthurell will go before the Parole Board clutching a recommendation that he be allowed early release for the 1995 bashing murder of Venet Mulhall, an elderly devout Christian who sponsored his release.

Mulhall, it should be noted, was killed after taking Arthurell into her care as his sponsor when he was released for the killing of his stepfather. That’s not the end of Arthurell’s deadly career either. He has also served four years for the manslaughter of a teenage naval officer in Tennant Creek in 1981.

Yet after all this and more, including other charges ranging from vagrancy to gun possession, the ­Serious Offenders Review Council has decided Arthurell should be at least eligible for day release. What’s more, Corrections Minister David Elliott has seemingly backed the council, saying that day release will help him “safely reintegrate” into the community.

Serial killer Reginald Arthurell, now 68, has been granted day release.

Which means that, should the Parole Board follow this advice, a multiply convicted killer could soon be walking the streets of NSW. Even with assurances that he would be ­escorted and monitored, should this occur it would be the latest in decades of incomprehensible decisions that have seen Arthurell released just three years into his sentence for killing his stepfather in a drunken argument. Such a move has also horrified the families of Arthurell’s victims, for understandable reasons.

We would hope that the Parole Board would do everything in its power to see that Arthurell remain locked up for as long as legally possible. Should he ever be allowed out again, it should only be under the strictest monitoring. While there are certainly many cases of people committing terrible crimes and being successfully rehabilitated, Arthurell is not deserving of any further second chances.

US ALLIANCE AGAINST JIHADIS

THE challenge of what to do about Australians who have gone to fight with Islamic State or other terrorist groups in the Middle East is one of the most pressing security challenges the nation faces right now.

As reported today in The Daily Telegraph, meetings between a ­visiting delegation from the US ­Department of Homeland Security and officials from ASIO, immigration and other agencies suggest that our efforts to cope with the problem may be getting some much-needed help.

And not a moment too soon. As the twisted effort to establish a caliphate falls apart with increasing military pressure on Mosul in Iraq and IS’s putative capital of Raqqa, we are likely to see more and more Australians attempt to return after stints that have, as a number of ­previous cases have shown, featured participation in all manner of brutality.

Sydney’s Ginger Jihadi and Islamic State poster boy Abdullah Elmir.

What is most heartening is the fact that American and Australian officials are continuing to work together on these vital security issues despite what can only be described as a rocky start to relations between Turnbull and the incoming Trump administration. Despite the urgings of those who would see us take a more Chinese line, our number one diplomatic and security relationship is with Washington. We are both partners in the Five Eyes intelligence alliance along with Canada, New Zealand and the UK.

SYDNEY’S ROSE GETS BURNED

AGE is just a number, they say, but in the case of struggling luxury handbag retailer Oroton, that number can be quite expensive.

Just ask Rose Byrne, who at age 37 is being put back on the shelf by the company, which is declining to renew her sponsorship deal in ­preference for cheaper, younger “influencers”.

Aussie actress Rose Byrne for Oroton.

Whether the move proves to be the right one remains to be seen. The Sydney born and bred Byrne is an extremely talented and well-loved actress with a range that has seen her in roles ranging from Moira MacTaggert in X-Men: Apocalypse to a brilliant performance as the starstruck secretary in a recent local production of David Mamet’s play Speed the Plow.

The idea of a luxury goods maker abandoning a spokeswoman likely of a similar age to those who might be in the market for their products in favour of younger ­models might backfire. Either way, we’re sure that handbag contract or not, Byrne has a long and bright career in front of her.