Senator the Hon Michaelia Cash
Shadow Attorney-General
Leader of the Opposition in the Senate
Senator for Western Australia
8 MARCH 2026
TERROR CASE EXPOSES GOVERNMENT’S FLAWED PAROLE BILL
The case of Muhammad Ayman Al-Hassan Hoolash shows exactly why the Albanese Government should not strip the Attorney-General of responsibility for federal parole decisions and hand that power to an unelected Commonwealth Parole Board.
According to media reports, Hoolash, who was jailed under Commonwealth counterterrorism laws for posting Islamic State beheading videos and other vile extremist material online, will be eligible for parole in May.
But the Court of Appeal has heard he has not even undertaken de-radicalisation programs in custody.
Shadow Attorney-General Senator Michaelia Cash said this case exposed the truth at the heart of Labor’s bill to strip the Attorney-General of parole decisions.
“When the stakes are highest, Labor wants someone else to make the decision and carry the risk,’’ Senator Cash said.
“This is an abrogation of the Attorney-General’s duties as the nation’s first law officer,’’ she said.
Labor’s Commonwealth Parole Board Bill 2025 would create a statutory Commonwealth Parole Board and strip the Attorney-General of direct responsibility for federal parole decisions.
“That is not leadership. It is a political escape hatch,’’ Senator Cash said.
“The Attorney-General is elected, answerable to the Parliament, and required to wear the consequences when decisions go right or wrong. An unelected board is not. It gives Labor exactly what it wants – cover when a dangerous decision blows up,’’ she said.
“This bill is designed to blur accountability when accountability matters most,’’ she said.
Senator Cash said the Government’s line that “the safety of the community is the Government’s highest priority” was laughable while Labor was trying to offload responsibility for parole onto an unelected body.
“If community safety were truly Labor’s highest priority, Labor would not be weakening ministerial accountability. It would not be building a system designed to let ministers hide behind the words “independent decision-maker”. And it would not be trying to wash its hands of responsibility for who gets released back into the community,’’ Senator Cash said.
Federal offenders are not ordinary offenders. They include terrorism and extremism offenders, child sex offenders, people smugglers, serious organised crime figures, cybercriminals and foreign interference actors.
“These are high-risk decisions, and getting them wrong can be catastrophic,’’ Senator Cash said.
“If community safety is really Labor’s highest priority, then the Attorney-General should keep responsibility for every federal parole decision,” she said. “Labor should not be allowed to outsource public safety decisions to an unelected board and then hide when something goes wrong,” Senator Cash said.
ENDS
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