Russell St bomber Craig Minogue will die in jail Premier says
PREMIER Daniel Andrews has vowed cop killer Craig Minogue won’t be freed from jail despite a High Court ruling.
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RUSSELL ST bomber Craig Minogue “will die in jail” despite being allowed to apply for parole after a High Court ruling, the Premier said.
Minogue, 56, has spent the past 32 years behind bars for the 1986 blast outside the Russell St Police Headquarters that killed 21-year-old Constable Angela Taylor and injured 22 others.
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The High Court ruled that laws created in 2016 to keep cop killers in jail did not apply to Minogue because the offence was indiscriminate and no one in particular was targeted.
The “evil” act targeted police and it was made clear in court that if a bomb was planted outside of police headquarters, it was not random, Mr Andrews said.
“That is a targeted act - an evil and targeted act.
“Sadly, the High Court took a different view
“We will correct that though. Craig Minogue will die in jail.”
In an audio clip posted on his Twitter account, Minogue said: “On 30 September 2016 the law in Victoria said that the parole eligibility date had been triggered in my case and so I made an application for parole and my application was accepted by the parole board.
“I waited for over 30 years and I took my kick at the goal of being released on parole but while the ball was still in flight the government moved the goalposts making me ineligible for parole.
“The full bench of the High Court of Australia is the ultimate umpire of the law in Australia and today the umpire has ruled that the government, with the full support of the opposition, were all acting against the rules of the lawmaking game and the laws they made against me, that were in question, (did) not actually apply to me.
“It should be noted that the five Greens who voted against the laws said they weren’t supporting the laws because they did not think they were being validly made. It turns out the Greens were right.
“The power of parliament to make laws should be used responsibly and as part of a carefully calculated response or social problem and not as part of some cynical political advertising. I hope that the government and the opposition will now respect the decision of the umpire and not seek to move the goalposts again for a second time.”
But the Herald Sun has learnt the Andrews Government will once again intervene to try to keep him behind bars forever, after its laws aimed at denying police murderers parole were bypassed by today’s judgment.
But lawyers for Minogue argued the change was unconstitutional and incompatible with the state’s human rights charter prohibiting “cruel, inhuman, degrading treatment”.
For the law to stick, Minogue’s team argued he needed to be sentenced on the basis he knew, or was reckless as to whether the person murdered was a police officer.
The High Court ruled Minogue was not sentenced on that basis.
“The remarks of the sentencing judge contain no reference to the plaintiff’s state of mind concerning the identity of the police constable who was killed,” it stated.
“The offence committed was indiscriminate and no particular person or class of persons was targeted.
“Therefore, the court concluded that (the law) does not apply to the plaintiff.”
Police minister Lisa Neville and corrections minister Gayle Tierney today promised law changes to keep Minogue behind bars.
The government will introduce legislation changes to parliament during the next sitting week, from July 24, and does not believe the killer could be paroled before then.
Facing questions, Ms Tierney said the government had not been humiliated by the court’s decision.
“The fact is that Mr Minogue got off on a technicality and we will ensure that that technicality is dealt with,” she said.
“It is an unforeseen technicality and the fact is that it will be fixed.”
Ms Neville said there was “absolutely no question” that the parliament had the power to legislate to keep Minogue in jail.
She said the family of slain Constable Angela Taylor would be extremely upset by the High Court’s decision.
“We are reaching out to them just to ensure that they are aware that we will fix this issue and ensure that there is absolutely no way that people like Craig Minogue get out on parole,” she said.
“When Gayle announced this legislation when we bought it in 2016, I said to the Taylor family that this is about acknowledging the pain and the grief that they have suffered for way too many years as a result of the loss of Angela.
“No family should have to go through worrying that the offender who has killed a police officer on duty would come out on parole.”
Minogue’s non-parole period expired on September 30, 2016 and days later he submitted an application for parole.
On October 20 that year, the Adult Parole Board decided to proceed with parole planning to consider Minogue’s suitability for release.
On December 14, a new section was inserted into the Corrections Act in a bid to keep Minogue behind bars.
Six days later, a further section was added in an effort to firm up the legislation.
Minogue argued the changes were made too late and the horse had already bolted.
The High Court heard after commencing his proceedings in the court, he asked the parole board not to take any further action in relation to his application for parole until the matter had been resolved.
The board agreed to that request and is now expected to take another look at releasing the killer.
The state opposition said the Andrews Government had made a “monumental stuff-up” drafting the laws designed to keep cop killers in jail.
Shadow Attorney-General John Pesutto called on Mr Andrews to immediately bring legislation before the parliament to fix what he said was a drafting error that had been exposed by the High Court.
“If he can’t get this basic question right, of keeping a cop killer behind bars, can we trust him to protect us?”
Mr Pesutto said the previous Coalition Government’s laws to keep Hoddle St killer Julian Knight behind bars had been upheld by the High Court, but that the Andrews Government had rejected the opposition’s proposal for similar laws targeting Minogue.