A man convicted for a bomb attack three decades ago at Melbourne police headquarters, which killed a police officer and injured 22 people, has challenged the validity of changes to parole laws that mean he will spend his life in jail.
Craig Minogue was jailed in May 1986 for the infamous attack known as the Russell Street bombing, in which a stolen car containing gelignite was parked outside of the police station and detonated.
The suspected motivation for the bombing was a hatred of police. The blast killed Constable Angela Taylor, making her Australia’s first policewoman killed on duty.
Minogue became eligible for parole last year after serving the minimum 30-year non-parole period on his life prison sentence.
But following a media campaign and pressure on the state government after it was revealed Minogue had applied for parole, the Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, last year introduced laws to eliminate parole for anyone convicted of killing a police officer, and applied them retrospectively.
This means Minogue, who is in his mid-50s, will now have to serve a life sentence, despite making his parole application before the laws came into effect. He is attempting to challenge the way the laws were applied to his case by taking the state of Victoria to court.
Minogue represented himself when he appeared before Justice Michelle Gordon via videolink from Barwon prison on Tuesday for a directions hearing. He told Gordon that he resented having to appear via video-link because “I feel as if I have a diminished standing before the court” and “I’m unable to see my opponent”.
“I feel this puts me at a disadvantage,” he said.
Gordon replied that it was unusual for prisoners to appear in person for a directions hearing, a type of hearing where the court puts a timetable in place for the case and makes any requests from the parties for further documents.
Minogue accepted this, telling Gordon: “OK your honour, we’ll continue”.
“I’ll determine if we continue,” Gordon replied.
Minogue sat behind a desk at Barwon dressed in a dark suit and purple tie, and sporting a short, white beard. His preferred title is Dr, owing to the PhD in applied ethics and human and social services he completed while in jail.
Gordon told Minogue that his statement of claim outlining his case was not written in a way that met the criteria to prompt a high court hearing. She said she would be forced to remit the matter to a lower court unless Minogue delivered a relevant statement of claim.
Gordon asked Minogue if he would consent to state-provided legal advice to assist him in attempting to progress the case. Minogue agreed, and Gordon adjourned the hearing until 30 May to give Gordon time to receive advice and redraft his statement.
“The 30th of May will be the 31st year I’ve spent in prison,” Minogue replied.
Minogue also murdered an inmate in 1988, and remains a suspect in the disappearance and murder of 13-year-old Prue Bird.
Hui Zhou from the Darebin community legal centre, who is supporting Minogue but not legally representing him, said she was concerned the state government’s retrospective changes to parole laws undermined the integrity and independence of the courts and of the adult parole board.
“This law has the effect of depriving a person of their liberty forever without recourse to the possibility of parole as sentencing judges had intended,” she said.
“If the Andrews government was interested in community safety, the appropriate thing would be to enable the adult parole board to make a decision about Dr Minogue’s level of risk to community.
“Rehabilitation should be the focus of any legislation intended to make community safer and healthier. This legislation shatters any notion for any prisoner that rehabilitation is a primary purpose of imprisonment.”
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