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Aussie state introduces "cop-killer" laws to ensure notorious criminal dies in jail

Xinhua, December 6, 2016 Adjust font size:

Australia's Victorian Government has fast-tracked laws to ensure one of the state's most infamous criminals dies in jail.

Craig Minogue was one of three men who carried out the Russell Street bombing in Melbourne's CBD in 1986, killing 21-year old police Constable Angela Taylor and injuring 22 others.

Minogue was found guilty of the attack along with his two accomplices and sentenced to life in jail with a minimum of 30 years.

Under new laws introduced to the Victorian parliament on Tuesday, dubbed the "cop-killer laws," anyone found guilty of murdering a police officer, either on duty or in connection with their role, would have no chance of parole.

The laws were fast tracked by Premier Daniel Andrews into the parliament on Tuesday to ensure they were passed before Minogue faced a parole board in January.

Gail Tierney, Victoria's Minister for Corrections, said the laws would be passed before the end of the sitting year on Thursday.

"We will introduce new legislation which will ensure those people who kill police officers serve their full sentence in prison," Tierney told reporters on Tuesday.

"This legislation is not limited to one person. It's a comprehensive approach covering all people convicted of murdering a police officer or officers and sentenced to a non-parole period."

Gary Ayres, the senior investigator of the bombings, said he was overjoyed by the move to rush the laws through parliament.

"I didn't think they'd go this far," Ayres told News Limited on Tuesday.

"It's good to hear they're fast-tracking it," he said.

In addition to the "cop-killer laws" Andrews has also introduced legislation that would also deny killers the right to parole if they refuse to give up the location of the bodies of their victims.

Offenders convicted of murder, manslaughter, conspiracy to commit murder and accessory to commit murder would be ineligible for parole under the new laws.

Andrews said the government's approach was to ensure that "victims of crime come first, now and always."

"Offenders who refuse to co-operate with police to reveal the location of their victims compound the pain of the victims' loved ones and don't deserve parole," he said. Endit