Mr ELFERINK - 2000-10-18
As the minister will no doubt be aware, the communication between prisoners and their lawyers by way of letter is privileged information. It has come to light that certain communications including threats of violence and other illegal activities have been used as a conduit through this privileged process. I ask the minister is this indeed the case, and if so, what does he intend to do about it?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I can inform honourable members of a recent incident at Darwin Prison where a prison officer, who was acting on intelligence received, opened a envelope from a prisoner addressed to his lawyer. Inside the letter were three separate letters addressed to third parties. There was no letter to the lawyer. The three letters were not in envelopes and they were folded and taped but they had full delivery addresses written on the back of them.
The contents of the letters were disturbing. They included threats of violence and references to crimes committed in the Territory and interstate. There was also a request to provide a mobile phone to the prisoner which would have been a serious breach of security.
I think it is important that I table copies of the letters. They have been edited to protect the names of innocent people and also some of the information in them and I table those letters for the information of honourable members. There are actually copies of three letters.
Yesterday, I gave notice that today I would introduce a bill to amend the Prisons (Correctional Services) Act. Under the legislation I am proposing the officer in charge of a prison will have the power to order the interception and the inspection of mail between prisoners and their legal advisers. He would be able to do that if he has reason to believe that a letter might contain material which would jeopardise prison security or involve a breach of the law. If such an order be made, the mail would be opened and inspected only by a statutory appointed legal practitioner of not less than 10 years standing.
I have also written to the Northern Territory Law Society advising them of the incident and of the government’s proposal to legislate. I also would give an undertaking that if they proceed with any ethics investigation that I would pledge the full support of the Department of Correctional Services.
I think all of us realise that taking away the privileged status of correspondence between prisoners and their lawyers is a serious step. I would like to table a couple of pages, pages 44 and 45, from the Law of Privilege by Suzanne B McNicol, a Law Book Company Limited 1992, which just lays out legal professional privilege and points out that communications between clients, lawyers and an agent of the client can be made only if it is solely for the purpose of obtaining legal advice or dealing with litigation. I think it is important that all members have some knowledge of that privilege, and obviously in these particular instances and the instances we are talking about it goes far beyond that legal interpretation of privilege; in fact that is the reason I have written to the Law Society.
This legislation has been made necessary in light of the incident of blatant abuse of that privilege and the legislation certainly should send a warning to all prisoners and their legal representatives or any legal practitioner that the government certainly will not tolerate such abuses. I can assure honourable members that the power to intervene in correspondence between prisoners and lawyers is not something that will be used lightly and prisoners who do not abuse the system have nothing to fear from the legislation.
I have provided information to the opposition spokesman on correctional matters and given him all the information and copies of the letters as well. The government will be seeking urgency regarding this legislation in order to pass it through the parliament during these sittings in order to ensure that we do not have illegal activities which put a threat to individuals in our community.
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I can inform honourable members of a recent incident at Darwin Prison where a prison officer, who was acting on intelligence received, opened a envelope from a prisoner addressed to his lawyer. Inside the letter were three separate letters addressed to third parties. There was no letter to the lawyer. The three letters were not in envelopes and they were folded and taped but they had full delivery addresses written on the back of them.
The contents of the letters were disturbing. They included threats of violence and references to crimes committed in the Territory and interstate. There was also a request to provide a mobile phone to the prisoner which would have been a serious breach of security.
I think it is important that I table copies of the letters. They have been edited to protect the names of innocent people and also some of the information in them and I table those letters for the information of honourable members. There are actually copies of three letters.
Yesterday, I gave notice that today I would introduce a bill to amend the Prisons (Correctional Services) Act. Under the legislation I am proposing the officer in charge of a prison will have the power to order the interception and the inspection of mail between prisoners and their legal advisers. He would be able to do that if he has reason to believe that a letter might contain material which would jeopardise prison security or involve a breach of the law. If such an order be made, the mail would be opened and inspected only by a statutory appointed legal practitioner of not less than 10 years standing.
I have also written to the Northern Territory Law Society advising them of the incident and of the government’s proposal to legislate. I also would give an undertaking that if they proceed with any ethics investigation that I would pledge the full support of the Department of Correctional Services.
I think all of us realise that taking away the privileged status of correspondence between prisoners and their lawyers is a serious step. I would like to table a couple of pages, pages 44 and 45, from the Law of Privilege by Suzanne B McNicol, a Law Book Company Limited 1992, which just lays out legal professional privilege and points out that communications between clients, lawyers and an agent of the client can be made only if it is solely for the purpose of obtaining legal advice or dealing with litigation. I think it is important that all members have some knowledge of that privilege, and obviously in these particular instances and the instances we are talking about it goes far beyond that legal interpretation of privilege; in fact that is the reason I have written to the Law Society.
This legislation has been made necessary in light of the incident of blatant abuse of that privilege and the legislation certainly should send a warning to all prisoners and their legal representatives or any legal practitioner that the government certainly will not tolerate such abuses. I can assure honourable members that the power to intervene in correspondence between prisoners and lawyers is not something that will be used lightly and prisoners who do not abuse the system have nothing to fear from the legislation.
I have provided information to the opposition spokesman on correctional matters and given him all the information and copies of the letters as well. The government will be seeking urgency regarding this legislation in order to pass it through the parliament during these sittings in order to ensure that we do not have illegal activities which put a threat to individuals in our community.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016