Denying Administrative Justice to Prisoners in Queensland

The CSA was assented to on 1 June 2006.

Queensland, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 29 March 2006, 940 (Judy Spence).

CSA s 17.

CSA s 66(6).

CSA s 68(6).

JRA s 32.

It is interesting to note that the Legal Constitutional and Administrative Review Commission (‘LCARC’) statistics on judicial review applications do not reveal any applications brought by women prisoners. For a detailed description of everyday prison existence see Fletcher Karen , ‘The Myth of the Supermax Solution’ (1999) 24(6) Alternative Law Journal 274.

Edney Richard , ‘Judicial Deference to the Expertise of Correctional Administrators: The Implications for Prisoners' Rights’ (2001) 7(1) Australian Journal of Human Rights 91; Groves Matthew , ‘Administrative Segregation of Prisoners: Powers, Principles of Review and Remedies’ (1996) 20 Melbourne University Law Review 639, 687.

Re Walker [1993] 2 Qd R 345, 349–350; Bartz v Chief Executive [2002] 2 Qd R 114, 118; Middleton v Department of Corrective Services [2002] QSC 356 (Unreported, Philippides J , 16 October 2002); Corrigan v Chief Executive [2002] QSC 384 (Unreported, de Jersey CJ, 22 November 2002).

Unless otherwise indicated, the classification decisions referred to in this article only relate to decisions made under ss 12, 13, 14, 66 and 68 of the CSA. Decisions about safety orders (s 53) or maximum security orders (s 60) are not affected by the privative clause provisions of the CSA.

CSA s 290(6) and Ombudsman Act 2001 (Qld) ss 50–52.

See above n 2.

Legislative Standards Act 1992 (Qld) s 4.

Scrutiny of Legislation Committee, Alert Digest, Issue No 4 of 2006 (Tabled 19 April 2006) 12.

Ibid 11–12.

Ibid.

Ibid 8. See CSA s 290(6).

CSA ss 285, 288.

Scrutiny of Legislation Committee, Alert Digest, Issue No 4 of 2006 (Tabled 19 April 2006) 9.

Ombudsman Act 2001 (Qld) ss 50–52.

Scrutiny of Legislation Committee, Alert Digest, Issue No 10 of 2000 (Tabled 22 August 2000) 10.

Tables 1 and 2 in this article highlight the small number of judicial review applications concerning the various types of classification and transfer decisions that came before the courts between 1995 and the introduction of the new CSA.

[1995] QSC 233 (Unreported, de Jersey J , 21 July 1995).

Minister for Corrective Services, Spence Judy , ‘New Corrective Services Bill Introduced to Parliament’ (Press Release, 28 March 2006).

Such orders are equivalent to ‘safety orders’ provided for under s 53 of the CSA.

Explanatory Notes, Corrective Services Bill 2006 (Qld) 20

See Edney , above n 9; Groves , above n 8. See also the cases referred to in n 10.

CSA ss 17, 71.

Explanatory Notes, Corrective Services Bill 2006 (Qld) 32.

Ibid 33

In most of these cases, orders were made to set aside the original decision and to remit the matter to the delegate for further consideration.

Partly based on information provided in LCARC, ‘The Accessibility of Administrative Justice’, Discussion Paper (December 2005), Appendix B. Cases marked* do not appear in Appendix B.

The use of the term ‘community’ here includes the prison community.

See Kidd v Chief Executive, Department of Corrective Services [2001] 2 Qd R 393, 402 and the discussion that considers the cases of Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs v Kurtovic (1990) 21 FCR 193 and Kioa v West (1985) 159 CLR 550: At 401.

(2002) 136 A Crim R 488.

Ibid 493.

Brown David , ‘Prisoners as Citizens’ in Brown David Wilkie Meredith (eds), Prisoners as Citizens: Human Rights in Australian Prisons (2002) 308; Pratt John (eds), The New Punitiveness: Trends, Theories, Perspectives (2005); Brown David , ‘The Politics of Law and Order’ (2002) 40(9) Law Society Journal 64; and Brown David Hogg Russell , ‘The Uncivil Politics of Law and Order’ (1998) 33 Arena 43.

Fletcher Karen , ‘Globalisation and Criminal Injustice’ (2002) 28(1) Hecate 132.

EARC, 1990.

Sections 17(2), 66(7), 68(7) and 71(5).

Law Book Company, Queensland Administrative Law, vol (at 1–1352) [1.2720].

For a variant of this argument see Plunkett Mark , ‘The Corrective Services Bill 2006 and Judicial Review of Corrective Services Decisions’ (Paper presented at the Crime of Punishment Forum on the Corrective Services Bill 2006, Brisbane, 15 May 2006) 9–10 <http://www.sistersinside.com.au/media/PaperMarkPlunkett.pdf> at 13 May 2007.

See AMACSU v Ergon Energy Corporation Ltd & Ors [2005] QCA 351 (Unreported, Jerrard Keane JJA Cullinane J , 23 September 2005 [27] (per Jerrard JA) and [64]–[66] ( Keane JA ); and Carey v President of the Industrial Court of Queensland [2004] 2 Qd R 359, 365–66 (McPherson JA). For an exercise of the court's jurisdiction to grant declarations in relation to special treatment orders see Farr & Ors v Queensland Corrective Services Commission [1999] QSC 86 (Unreported, Moynihan J, 21 April 1999).