Fallen kayaking champion Nathan Baggaley wants parole – but he’s been far from a model inmate

Fallen kayaking champion Nathan Baggaley, serving a 13-year sentence for attempting to smuggle about $200m of cocaine, is making a bid for freedom – but he has been far from the model inmate.

Fallen kayak champion Nathan Baggaley – who is doing 13 years jail for attempting to smuggle hundreds of kilos of cocaine into Australia – remains involved with drugs behind bars.

Baggaley, who was sentenced for his involvement in the scheme alongside his brother and a third man, has also had multiple violent encounters with fellow inmates.

The revelations are within documents filed with the Federal Court of Australia as part of Baggaley’s bid to overturn the Commonwealth Parole Office’s March 7 decision to refuse his parole application.

The documents reveal, among other indiscretions, Baggaley has been charged with additional drug offences after contraband was allegedly discovered inside altered sardine tins; was involved in multiple violent episodes with other inmates; and has three times been subject to a prison safety order due to poor behaviour.

Nathan Baggaley at the 2004 Athens Olympics. (Photo by Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)

Byron Bay-born Baggaley, 49, a two-time Olympic silver medallist, and younger brother Dru, 43, were each sentenced to more than 20 years’ imprisonment after a Supreme Court jury found them guilty in 2021 of attempting to import hundreds of kilograms of cocaine into northern New South Wales.

A retrial was ordered after the pair successfully appealed. Last November, their sentences were reduced to 13 years and 15 years respectively after they pleaded guilty to the charge.

Baggaley, whose head sentence does not expire until June 18, 2032, and his brother were both made parole-eligible from the date of their resentence, November 4. Baggaley applied for parole almost immediately.

Dru Baggaley and Anthony Draper arrested after picking up hundreds of kilograms of cocaine off the coast of northern NSW. Picture: File

As part of his assessment process with Queensland Corrective Services (QCS), he told officers he could reside with a friend at Caboolture upon his release, but would ultimately like to return to NSW to work for his family’s oyster business, Brunswick Seed Oysters.

Baggaley further confirmed he had been accepted into a one-month inpatient rehabilitation program, to commence immediately upon his release, at Sunshine Coast’s The Health Retreat to address his mental health and substance misuse concerns.

According to the documents, he told QCS officers he had had “the last [five and a half] years to reflect on my actions and realise I can no longer be a selfish person”.

Cocaine seized as part of the police operation. Picture: File

“I need to be there for my elderly parents, and I need to reconnect with my 10-year-old son,” Baggaley told them.

“I realise I need to earn everyone’s trust again and I am happy to do the work to achieve this.”

QCS recommended him for release, but earlier this year Baggaley was told by a delegate of the Commonwealth Attorney-General (then Mark Dreyfus KC) he needed to cool his heels for at least another 12 months before release would be considered.

The delegate told Baggaley, housed in residential accommodation at Maryborough Correctional Centre, he could not be satisfied the applicant would be “willing and able” to comply with a parole order and his release would pose an “unacceptable risk to community safety”.

Furthermore, the delegate was concerned Baggaley had not evidenced any “longer term plans to engage with professional supports for [his] rehabilitative needs” outside the one-month inpatient program at The Health Retreat.

Finally, the delegate took a dim view of Baggaley’s behavioural record while incarcerated.

“You have been involved in multiple misconduct incidents in custody and you appear to minimise and justify your behaviour,” the delegate said.

“This suggests your level of insight may not be sufficient to prevent you from reoffending in the community.”

Nathan Baggaley at Cabarita Beach in 2015. Picture: File

A QCS report considered by the delegate went into further detail on Baggaley’s chequered behavioural record while behind bars.

Since his remand in custody in June 2019, Baggaley had been named as perpetrator in 10 recorded prison incidents, according to the report.

They included fighting with an inmate in the toilet block on July 6, 2020; inciting prisoners to disobey directions on June 22, 2021; headbutting a prisoner after a heated conversation on July 3, 2023; tampering with a QCS laptop on July 19, 2023; and further physical altercations with prisoners on December 23, 2023, and June 27, 2024.

Baggaley denied most of the allegations.

Most seriously, on July 15, 2023, a cell search at Capricornia Correctional Centre, where Baggaley was being housed at the time, uncovered two sardine tins of markedly different weight.

The lighter one was opened, and inside was discovered two vials of steroids, several hypodermic needles, and a syringe.

Capricornia Correctional Centre, where Baggaley was being housed when he got busted with serious contraband. Picture: File

Several soft drink cans, baked bean cans, and sardine tins were subsequently found to have been altered to conceal prohibited articles including prescription drugs, a plastic bag containing a white powder, a mobile phone and a charging cable.

Baggaley subsequently pleaded guilty in the Rockhampton Magistrates Court to charges including possessing a dangerous drug in custody and dealing with a prohibited thing, for which he was sentenced on November 25 last year to 12 months’ jail, wholly suspended for an operational period of three years.

In Baggaley’s application for a judicial review of the Attorney-General’s delegate’s decision to refuse him parole, he alleged there had been a “procedural error or denial of procedural fairness in the making of the decision”, rendering it “unreasonable”.

He asserted three grounds upon which the decision was unreasonable: that the parole office “relied upon findings from 2021 that were quashed by the Queensland Court of Appeal”; that it did not have regard to sealed court documents that would have ameliorated its concerns; and that it was “in error by stating that I had ongoing substance abuse and mental health issues that needed further rehabilitation”.

The matter will be heard before Justice Darryl Rangiah in Brisbane on June 3.

Originally published as Fallen kayaking champion Nathan Baggaley wants parole – but he’s been far from a model inmate