Criminal Code Act 1983

(1) When the court makes a supervision order, the court must fix a term in accordance with subsection (2), (3) or (4) that is appropriate for the offence concerned and specify the term in the order.

(2) Subject to subsections (3) and (4), the term fixed under subsection (1) is to be equivalent to the period of imprisonment or supervision (or aggregate period of imprisonment and supervision) that would, in the court's opinion, have been the appropriate sentence to impose on the supervised person if he or she had been found guilty of the offence charged.

(a) the offence charged carries a mandatory penalty of life imprisonment; or

(b) the court is of the view that life imprisonment would have been an appropriate penalty for the offence charged;

the court must fix the period it would have set as the non-parole period for the offence under the Sentencing Act 1995 if the supervised person had been found guilty of the offence charged as the term under subsection (1).

(4) If the supervised person was charged with the commission of multiple offences, the court must fix the term under subsection (1) by reference to the offence carrying the longest maximum period of imprisonment.

(4A) A reference in subsection (2) to a period of supervision is a reference to a period of custody or any other form of supervision of a person under a court order (including, for example, a home detention order) on the court finding the person guilty of an offence.

(4B) The court may decide the term fixed under subsection (1) is taken to have commenced from a specified time that was:

(b) at or after the time the supervised person was first taken into custody for an offence because of which the court may make the supervision order.

(5) At least 3 months (but not more than 6 months) before the expiry of the term fixed under subsection (1) in respect of a supervision order, the court must conduct a review to determine whether to release the supervised person the subject of the supervision order from it.

(5A) The court may adjourn the proceedings for the review to a time that is after the expiry of the term fixed under subsection (1) if the court considers it appropriate to do so.

(a) the court may make interim orders for the supervised person (including, for example, an order that the supervised person be remanded in custody in a custodial correctional facility or another place the court considers appropriate); and

(b) subject to a direction by the court – the supervision order continues to have effect until the completion of the review.

(5C) The court must not make an interim order under subsection (5B)(a) remanding the supervised person in custody in a custodial correctional facility unless the court is satisfied there is no practical alternative given the circumstances of the supervised person.

(6) On completing the review under subsection (5), unless the court considers that the safety of the supervised person or the public will or is likely to be seriously at risk if the supervised person is released, the court must release the supervised person unconditionally.

(7) If the court considers that the safety of the supervised person or the public will or is likely to be seriously at risk if the supervised person is released unconditionally, the court must:

(b) vary the conditions of the supervision order (including, if the supervision order is a custodial supervision order, the place of custody where the supervised person is detained); or

(c) if the supervision order is a non-custodial order – vary the supervision order to a custodial supervision order and impose the conditions on the order that the court considers appropriate; or

(d) if the supervision order is a custodial order – vary the supervision order to a non-custodial order and impose the conditions on the order that the court considers appropriate.