Crimes (Sentencing) Act 2005

This section applies if the court sentences the offender to a term of imprisonment of 1 year or longer, or 2 or more terms of imprisonment that total 1 year or longer.

The court must set a period (a nonparole period) during which the offender is not eligible to be released on parole.

If the offender is released on parole, the sentence is not discharged unless the parole is completed without the parole order being cancelled (see Crimes (Sentence Administration) Act 2005, s 140 and s 160).

When the court sets the nonparole period, the court must state when the nonparole period starts and ends.

A sentence may be backdated to account for time already held in custody (see s 63).

However, the court may decline to set a nonparole period in sentencing the offender if the court considers that it would be inappropriate to set a nonparole period having regard to the nature of the offence or offences and the offender’s antecedents.

If the offender is subject to a sentence of life imprisonment, the court must not set a nonparole period for any sentence of imprisonment that is imposed on the offender unless—

the sentence of life imprisonment to which the offender is subject was imposed by a court of a State or another Territory; and

a parole order for the sentence of life imprisonment is registered under the Crimes (Sentence Administration) Act 2005, section 167 (Parole order transfer—registration).

If the sentence of imprisonment is partly suspended, the period for which it is suspended must be disregarded for this section.