House of Commons, Constitutional Affairs Committee, Constitutional Role of the Attorney General (Fifth Report of Session 2006–07) Ev 18.
2.
CornsChristopher, Public Prosecutions in Australia: Law, Policy and Practice (Thomson Reuters, 2013).
3.
PlaterDavid made this observation in The Changing Role of the Modern Prosecutor: Has the Notion of the ‘Minister of Justice’ Outlived its Usefulness? (PhD Thesis, University of Tasmania, 2011) 1, before the publication of Corns, above n 2. Corns' work provides a much needed broad overview of the role of prosecution. It focuses on the role, powers and responsibilities of DPP and Crown prosecutors, and their relationships with federal and State regulatory agencies.
4.
This is the one area of the decision-making process of the DPP that has been scrutinised for issues of accountability. See, eg, FlynnAsherFitz-GibbonKate‘Bargaining With Defensive Homicide: Examining Victoria's Secretive Plea Bargaining System Post-Law Reform’Melbourne University Law Review35 (2011) 905–1197.
5.
FlynnAsher, ‘We've Changed our Minds: What Do You Do With A Failed Plea Bargain – A Reflection on R v Nixon’ (2012) Windsor Law Review of Legal and Social Issues123.
6.
The Attorneys General maintain responsibility for ‘superintendence’ over prosecutions, and decisions about matters other than initiating prosecutions have been subject to criticisms of being politically motivated. For example, in R v Watson; ex parte A-G (Qld) [2009] QCA 279 when the Attorney appealed a sentence for manslaughter; and R v Nemer (2003) 87 SASR 168 when the Attorney-General directed the Director to appeal a sentence for endangering life.
