Life imprisonment in Australia

Life imprisonment is the most severe criminal sentence available to the courts in Australia. Most cases attracting the sentence are murder. It is also imposed, albeit rarely, for sexual assault, manufacturing and trafficking commercial quantities of illicit drugs, and offences against the justice system and government security.

As of 2022, there are 418 prisoners in Australia serving a life sentence.^[1]

Offences and minimum terms

Mandatory life imprisonment

The death penalty in Australia fell into disuse in 1967, and between then and 1985, each jurisdiction abolished it and (in most cases) replaced it with mandatory life imprisonment.

Mandatory life imprisonment was subsequently abolished in New South Wales in 1982,^[2] Victoria in 1986,^[2] Tasmania in 1995,^[2] and Western Australia in 2008,^[3] though it was reintroduced in New South Wales in 2011 for the murder of a police officer.^[4][5]

When the death penalty was abolished in the Australian Capital Territory in 1973, there were no offences subject to mandatory life imprisonment;^[2] even so, life imprisonment can be imposed.

Life imprisonment remains mandatory for murder in South Australia, the Northern Territory, and Queensland.

State and territories

The criminal law and prisons are primarily administered by state and territory governments within Australia's federal system. As such, there is considerable divergence of which offences can attract life sentences across Australia.

The minimum non-parole period on a life sentence varies between jurisdictions, and between different crimes attracting the penalty. A life sentence in Western Australia, for a crime other than murder, attracts a minimum non-parole period of seven years, while the equivalent term in Queensland is 15 years. For murder, the minimum non-parole period on a life sentence in the Australian Capital Territory is 10 years, as it is in Western Australia (except when committed during an aggravated home burglary, in which case it is 15 years).

In South Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory, the minimum non-parole period for a life sentence for an offender convicted of murder is 20 years. In Queensland, if the offender has been convicted of the murder of a police officer, the minimum non-parole period is 25 years, and in the case of multiple/serial murder or where the offender has a prior conviction for murder, the minimum non-parole period is 30 years.^[6] In the Northern Territory, exceptional circumstances can reduce the minimum 20 year non-parole period, but conversely, the minimum non-parole for murder in circumstances of aggravation is 25 years. In South Australia, a guilty plea discount can reduce up to 25% of the minimum non-parole period of 20 years. ^[7]

The minimum non-parole term for a life sentence in Victoria is 30 years, unless a court considers it not in the interest of justice to set such a term.^[8]

New South Wales is the only Australian state or territory to provide for a mandatory life without parole sentence, specifically where the offender has been convicted of the murder of a police officer.^[9]

Following a string of high-profile ‘coward punch’ related deaths, in 2014 the Queensland government created a new offence of unlawful striking causing death, the maximum penalty for which is life imprisonment.^[10]

The Criminal Code of Queensland,^[11] Western Australia^[12] and the Northern Territory^[13] also provide for life imprisonment for aircraft hijacking, aiding a suicide, terrorism and for perjuring to procure a conviction of an offence punishable by life imprisonment. The Criminal Code of the Northern Territory also provides for life imprisonment for terrorism and aircraft hijacking, as well as for most other serious violent offences.

Every state and territory except Tasmania provides for life imprisonment for some drug offences, though Tasmanians remain subject to Commonwealth law, which allows for life imprisonment for some drug offences. Primarily, these offences are manufacturing, trafficking or cultivating commercial quantities of controlled drugs and procuring children to do so, and in Queensland, supplying any quantity of particular drugs to children under 16.

Child sexual abuse offences can also attract a life sentence in New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and the Northern Territory. In Queensland, if child sexual abuse was committed by a repeat offender, a life sentence is mandatory and cannot be mitigated or varied under any law. Other offences capable of attracting a sentence of life imprisonment are rape, arson, incest, riot (under aggravated circumstances), piracy and destroying sea walls (Queensland) and treason (Tasmania).

In Queensland, the law also provides a maximum punishment of life imprisonment for aircraft hijacking, burglary or unlawful entry into a dwelling (under aggravated circumstances or by means of a break), armed robbery, violent robbery, attempt to commit armed robbery, attempt to commit violent robbery, conspiracy to bring false accusation against another where an innocent person is convicted and punished with life imprisonment for a crime he or she did not commit, rape, aggravated sexual assault, manslaughter, attempted murder, stupefying (poisoning or drugging) with the intent to commit another indictable offence, disabling with intent to commit an indictable offence (choking, suffocating or strangulating or rendering or attempted to render any person incapable of resistance), and most other serious violent offences.

The Australian Capital Territory^[14] and Victoria^[15][16] are the only Australian jurisdictions to explicitly prohibit the imposition of life imprisonment without parole on children.

Prisoners serving life sentences in Australia (2022)[1]
Most serious offence	Number of prisoners
Homicide offences	392
Sexual assault offences	17
Illicit drug offences	3
Offences against justice	3
Total	418

Commonwealth

Under Commonwealth legislation, there are 68 offences that can attract life imprisonment.

Sixty three such offences are within the Criminal Code Act 1995,^[17] including the setting or placing of explosive and lethal devices; treason, treachery and espionage offences; terrorist acts, as well as preparing or planning terrorist acts and financing terrorism; incursions into foreign countries with the intention of engaging in hostile activity and related preparatory conduct (including accumulating weapons, providing or participating in training, giving or receiving goods and services and allowing use of buildings and vehicles to support such offences).

Further offences in the Criminal Code that allow for life imprisonment include crimes against humanity (genocide, war crimes), the murder of UN personnel and various drug offences including manufacturing, trafficking importing and exporting of commercial quantities of controlled drugs and plants, cultivating commercial quantities of controlled plants, and procuring children to facilitate similar drug offences.

The Crimes (Aviation) Act 1991^[18] provides for life imprisonment for hijacking offences, destruction of aircraft with intent to kill and prejudicing safe operation of an aircraft with intention to kill, and the Crimes Act 1914 provides for life imprisonment for piracy.^[19]

Notable sentences

With non-parole periods

The longest overall non-parole period for a single murder is 45 years and six months, being served by Michael Barry Fyfe (South Australia), who stabbed fellow inmate Trevor Tilley in the kitchen of Yatala Prison in January 1995 while serving a 17+1⁄2-year sentence for other crimes.

The longest non-parole period imposed for a single murder is 35 years, being served by Melbourne CBD gunman Christopher Wayne Hudson (Victoria).^[20]

The longest non-parole period imposed on a woman is 32 years, being served by South Australian Angelika Gavare, who murdered and dismembered pensioner Vonne McGlynn in November 2008 for financial gain,^[21] and Victorian Cai Xia Liao, who repeatedly stabbed Mai Mach and her four-year-old grandson Alistair Kwong with gardening shears in a vicious attack.^[22]

Notable prisoners serving at least one life imprisonment with specified non-parole period:

Name	State	Convictions	Sentence	Non-parole period	Age at sentence	Date of sentence	Notes
Jaymes Todd	Victoria	Murder; rape; attempted rape; sexual assault	Life Imprisonment	35 years	20	September 2019	[23]
Adrian Ernest Bayley	Victoria	Murder; rape	Life Imprisonment	35 years	41	June 2013	[24]
Garry Francis Newman	SA	Murder	Life Imprisonment	29 years	50	April 2010
Ernest Fisher	WA	Murder	Life Imprisonment	18 years	67	August 2018	[25]
Brett Peter Cowan	QLD	Murder; indecent treatment of a child under 16; interference with a corpse	Life Imprisonment	20 years	44	March 2014	[26][27] Sentenced over the murder of Daniel Morcombe
Jack Brearley	WA	Murder	Life Imprisonment	22 years	24	June 2025	[28]
Brodie Palmer	WA	Murder	Life Imprisonment	18 years	30	June 2025	[28]
Dieter Pfennig	SA	Murder ×2; abduction ×2; rape	2× life imprisonment	60 years	44	1992: 25* years; 2016: additional 35 years	[29] *1994 ‘Truth in sentencing’ legislation reduced an initial 38 year non-parole period to 25 years. Pfenning has the longest non-parole period of any Australian prisoner: he will be 103 before he becomes eligible for parole.
Michael Fyfe	SA	Murder; attempted murder; causing grievous bodily harm; causing death by dangerous driving; assaulting a police officer ×2; several assaults; assault occasioning actual bodily harm; escape lawful custody	Life imprisonment	45 years and 6 months	In custody since age 25 [30]	In custody since May 1987[30]	[31] Fyfe's total non-parole period is the longest of any Australian prisoner convicted of a single murder.
Angelika Gavare	SA	Murder	Life imprisonment	32 years	35	November 2011	[32][33] Gavare's non-parole period is, equal with Cai Xia Liao, the longest imposed on a female by any Australian court.
James Miller	SA	Murder ×6	6× life imprisonment	35 years*	40	March 1980	Deceased; died of cancer in October 2008. *Miller applied for a non-parole period to be determined in 1999, which was approved and imposed in February 2000.[34]
James Gargasoulas	Victoria	Murder ×6; reckless conduct endangering life ×27	6× life imprisonment	46 years	27	February 2019	[35] Gargasoulas received the longest non-parole period resulting from a single trial of any Australian prisoner.
Carl Williams	Victoria	Murder ×3; conspiracy to murder	3× life imprisonment	35 years	36	May 2007	[36] Deceased; killed in prison April 2010
Keith Faure	Victoria	Murder ×2	2× life imprisonment	19 years	54	May 2006	[37]
Malcolm Clarke	Victoria	Murder	Life imprisonment	25 years	49	December 2004	[38]
Nicola Spina	Victoria	Murder2; false imprisonment	2× life imprisonment	25 years	54	August 2003	[39] Deceased, died in prison in 2011 of a heart attack
John Sharpe	Victoria	Murder ×2	2× Life imprisonment	33 years	38	August 2005	[40]
Brent Quarry	Victoria	Murder; causing injury intentionally; causing injury recklessly	Life imprisonment	24 years	32	February 2004	[41]
Michael Lane	Victoria	Murder	Life imprisonment	24 years	48	June 2003	[42]
Gregory Brazel	Victoria	Murder	Life imprisonment	27 years	48	March 2003	[43] *
Lloyd Crosbie	Victoria	Murder ×2	2× life imprisonment	30 years	20	March 2003	[44]
Andrew Norrie	Victoria	Murder	Life imprisonment	14 years and 6 months	39	December 2001	[45]
Peter Knight	Victoria	Murder	Life imprisonment	23 years	48	November 2002	[46]
John Horrocks	Victoria	Murder; attempted murder, conduct endangering life	Life imprisonment	23 years	39	October 2000	[47]
Truong Phuc	Victoria	Murder; kidnapping	Life imprisonment	23 years and 8 months	40	June 2000	[48]
Dean Williamson	Victoria	Murder	Life imprisonment	24 years	30	March 2000	[49] Deceased; died by suicide in 2000 at Barwon Prison
Robert Parsons	Victoria	Murder	Life imprisonment	25 years	55	May 1999	[50]
Manuel Adajian	Victoria	Murder ×2; attempted murder; armed robbery	2× life imprisonment	25 years	42	May 1998	[51][52]
Lindsay Beckett	Victoria	Murder ×2	2× life imprisonment	35 years	24	August 1998	[53][54]
Christopher Hudson	Victoria	Murder; attempted murder ×2; intentionally causing serious injury	Life imprisonment	35 years	30	September 2008	[55] Hudson received the longest non-parole period for a single murder of any Australian prisoner.
Cai Xia Liao	Victoria	Murder ×2; intentionally causing injury; false imprisonment	Life imprisonment	32 years	45	December 2015	[56] Liao's non-parole period is, equal with Angelika Gavare, the longest imposed on a female by any Australian court
Massimo Sica	QLD	Murder ×3	3× life imprisonment	35 years	42	July 2012	[57]
Valmae Beck	QLD	Murder; rape	Life imprisonment	14 years and 6 months	44	1988	Deceased, died of heart failure May 2008
Tracey Wigginton	QLD	Murder	Life imprisonment	13 years	25	January 1991	Wigginton was released on parole in January 2012[58]
Ashley Paul Griffith	QLD	Repeated sexual conduct with a child ×15, rape ×28, indecent treatment of a child under 16 under 12 under care ×190, making child exploitation material ×67, producing child abuse material outside of Australia ×4, distributing child abuse material outside Australia, using a carriage service for child pornography, possession of child exploitation materil	Life imprisonment	27 years	46	December 2024	[59]
Jessica Stasinowsky	WA	Wilful murder	Strict security life imprisonment	24 years	21	March 2008	[60]
Valerie Parashumti	WA	Wilful murder	Strict security life imprisonment	24 years	19	March 2008	[60]
Catherine Birnie	WA	Murder ×4; aggravated sexual assault; deprivation of liberty	4× strict security life imprisonment	20 years	35	March 1987	[61] *Though becoming parole eligible in 2007, every serving Attorney General since has invariably stated Birnie will be denied parole during their tenure.[62][63][64]
David Birnie	WA	Murder ×4; aggravated sexual assault; deprivation of liberty	4× strict security life imprisonment	20 years	36	February & March 1987	[61] Deceased; died by suicide in October 2005
Dante Arthurs	WA	Murder, unlawful detention	Life imprisonment	13 years	23	November 2007	[65] Arthurs was refused parole in 2019[66]
‘F’ (an unidentified child)	WA	Wilful murder	Life imprisonment	12 years	16 (15 at time of offence)	August 1992	[67] ‘F’ was released from prison in 2014 after serving 22 years, with a subsequent parole term of five years [68]
Douglas Crabbe	NT	Murder ×5	5× Life imprisonment	30 years*	38	October 1985	*Changes to NT sentencing laws resulted in a non-parole period being set in December 2004. Crabbe was transferred to a Western Australian prison in 2005, and despite being parole eligible from 2013, successive Attorney Generals have indicated they will not approve his release[69]
Bradley Murdoch	NT	Murder; deprivation of liberty; aggravated unlawful assault	Life imprisonment	28 years	47	December 2005	[70]
Evelyn Namatjira	NT	Murder	Life imprisonment	15 years	46	December 2012	[71]
Ben William McLean	NT	Murder ×2	2× life imprisonment	25 years	20	May 2005	[72]
Phu Ngoc Trinh	NT	Murder ×2	2× life imprisonment	25 years	19	May 2005	[72]
James O'Neill	Tasmania	Murder	Life imprisonment	undetermined*	28	Convicted November 1975	[73][74][75] *O'Neill was denied parole after applications in 1991 and 2005. He is now Tasmania's longest serving prisoner[76] See also: Disappearance of the Beaumont children

Without the possibility of parole

In the most extreme cases, the sentencing judge will refuse to fix a non-parole period, which means that the prisoner will spend the rest of their life in prison. Notable prisoners serving at least one sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole include:

Name	State	Conviction	Sentence	Age at sentence	Date of sentence	Notes
Lian Bin (Robert) Xie	NSW	Murder ×5	5× life imprisonment	53	February 2017	[77]
Vincent Stanford	NSW	Murder; aggravated sexual assault	Life imprisonment plus 15 years	26	October 2016	[78]
Roger Dean	NSW	Murder ×11; recklessly causing grievous bodily harm ×8; larceny as a clerk ×2	11× life imprisonment plus 21 years	37	August 2013	[79]
Bronson Blessington	NSW	Murder; abduction; rape; robbery ×2	Life imprisonment plus 25 years*	16; 14 at time of offending	September 1990	*When sentencing, the trial judge recommended Blessington never be released.[80] While this order had no legally binding effect at that time, legislative changes passed through New South Wales parliament since have effectively extinguished any possibility of Blessington receiving a determinate sentence or release on parole.[81] This is despite Australia being signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which explicitly prohibits imprisonment without the possibility of release as a punishment for children.[82]
Matthew Elliott	NSW	Murder; abduction; rape ×2; robbery ×2	Life imprisonment plus 25 years*	18; 16 at time of offending	September 1990	*When sentencing, the trial judge recommended Elliott never be released.[80] While this order had no legally binding effect at that time, legislative changes passed through New South Wales parliament since have effectively extinguished any possibility of Elliott receiving a determinate sentence or release on parole.[81] This is despite Australia being signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which explicitly prohibits imprisonment without the possibility of release as a punishment for children.[82]
Phuong Ngo	NSW	Murder	Life imprisonment	43	November 2001	[83]
Glen McNamara	NSW	Murder; supplying of a prohibited drug in an amount not less than a large commercial quantity	Life imprisonment plus 12 years	57	September 2016	[84]
Roger Rogerson	NSW	Murder; supplying of a prohibited drug in an amount not less than a large commercial quantity	Life imprisonment plus 12 years	75	September 2016	[84]
Mark Valera	NSW	Murder ×2	2× life imprisonment	21	December 2000	[85]
Sef Gonzales	NSW	Murder ×3	3× life imprisonment	24	September 2004	[86]
Andrew Garforth	NSW	Murder	Life imprisonment plus 30 years	29	July 1993	[87]
Crespin Adanguidi	NSW	Murder ×3	3× life imprisonment	27	June 2005	[88]
Ramzi Aouad	NSW	Murder ×2	2× life imprisonment	25	November 2006	*Originally sentenced to three terms of life without parole, for three murders;[89] successfully appealed against one murder conviction in April 2011[90]
Allan Baker	NSW	Murder; conspiracy to murder; malicious wounding with intent to prevent lawful apprehension ×2	Life imprisonment plus 55 years hard labour	26	June 1974	[91]
Kevin Crump	NSW	Murder; conspiracy to murder; malicious wounding with intent to prevent lawful apprehension ×2	Life imprisonment plus 55 years hard labour	25	June 1974	Reduced to one term of life without parole plus 55 years on appeal in 1997[91]
John Travers	NSW	Murder; taking with intent to hold for advantage; assault; robbery; wounding; inflicting actual bodily harm with the intent to have sexual intercourse; stealing a car	Life imprisonment plus 50 years	20	July 1987	[92]
Michael Murphy	NSW	Murder; taking with intent to hold for advantage; assault; robbery; wounding; inflicting actual bodily harm with the intent to have sexual intercourse; stealing a car	Life imprisonment plus 50 years	34	July 1987	Deceased; died February 2019[92]
Gary Murphy	NSW	Murder; taking with intent to hold for advantage; assault; robbery; wounding; inflicting actual bodily harm with the intent to have sexual intercourse; stealing a car	Life imprisonment plus 50 years	29	July 1987	[92]
Leslie Murphy	NSW	Murder; taking with intent to hold for advantage; assault; robbery; wounding; inflicting actual bodily harm with the intent to have sexual intercourse; stealing a car	Life imprisonment plus 48 years	23	July 1987	[92]
Michael Murdoch	NSW	Murder; taking with intent to hold for advantage; assault; robbery; wounding; inflicting actual bodily harm with the intent to have sexual intercourse; stealing a car	Life imprisonment plus 50 years	20	July 1987	[92]
Malcolm Baker	NSW	Murder ×6	6× life imprisonment	45	August 1993	[93]
Samuel Boyd	NSW	Murder ×4; wounding with intent to murder	4× life imprisonment plus 25 years	29	January 1985	The life sentence for the conviction of wounding with intent to murder was reduced to 25 years on appeal in 1994[citation needed][94]
John Cribb	NSW	Murder ×3; rape ×3; kidnapping ×2; false imprisonment ×2; armed robbery ×9; escaping lawful custody	3× life imprisonment plus 45 years	28	May 1979	Deceased; died February 2018[95]
Adnan Darwiche	NSW	Murder ×2; attempted murder; discharging a firearm with intent to do grievous bodily harm	2× life imprisonment plus 26 years	30	November 2006	[89]
John Glover	NSW	Murder ×6; attempted murder; robbery with wounding; robbery; indecent assault ×4; assault	6× Life imprisonment	58	November 1990	Deceased; died by suicide September 2005[96]
Matthew Harris	NSW	Murder ×3; armed robbery	2× life imprisonment plus 40 years	31	December 1999*	*Originally sentenced to 40 years for each count of murder and 3 years for armed robbery with a non-parole period of 25 years; sentence increased on appeal in December 2000:[97]
Michael Kanaan	NSW	Murder ×3; malicious wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm ×4; discharging firearm with intent to prevent lawful apprehension; accessory to the fact after malicious wounding	3× life imprisonment plus 50 years and 4 months	26	October 2001	[98]
Lindsay Robert Rose	NSW	Murder ×5; robbery ×2; conspiracy to pervert the course of justice; kidnapping; robbery while armed; maliciously destroying property by fire; malicious wounding; larceny; supplying a prohibited drug	5× life imprisonment plus 39 years	43	September 1998	[99]
Naseam El-Zeyat	NSW	Murder ×2*	2× life imprisonment*	26	November 2006	*Originally sentenced to three terms of Life imprisonment, for three murders;[89] successfully appealed against one murder conviction in April 2011[90]
Ivan Milat	NSW	Murder ×7; attempted murder; false imprisonment; robbery	7× life imprisonment plus 18 years	51	July 1996	Deceased; died in hospital 27 October 2019[100]
Katherine Knight	NSW	Murder	Life imprisonment	46	November 2001	[101]
Mark Lewis	NSW	Murder ×2	Life imprisonment plus 18 years	58	June 2000	[102]
Leonard Warwick	NSW	Murder ×3; exploding an explosive device which destroys or damages a building with intent to murder ×2; placing an explosive substance into a vehicle with intent to murder; maliciously placing an explosive substance near a building with intent to damage the building; maliciously, by an explosion, causing grievous bodily harm ×13	3× life imprisonment plus 100 years	73	September 2020	[103][104]
Julian Knight	Victoria	Murder ×7; attempted murder ×46	7× life imprisonment, non-parole period 27 years.	21	November 1989	The original sentence included a finite non-parole period, however with judicial parole guidance this amounted to de facto life imprisonment without parole. [105] In 2014 the Parliament of Victoria legislated that Knight could only be granted parole if imminently dying or seriously incapacitated to the extent he could do no physical harm to any person and demonstrably posed no risk to the community. The Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities was suspended for the purpose of this provision.[106][107] See also: Hoddle Street massacre
Michael Cardamone	Victoria	Murder; incitement to murder; breaching a prescribed condition of parole	Life imprisonment plus 8 years and three months	50	August 2017	[108]
Leslie Camilleri	Victoria	Murder ×3	2× life imprisonment plus 28 years	29	April 1999	In December 2013, Camilleri was sentenced to a further 28 years prison for his third murder conviction [109][110]
Ashley Coulston	Victoria	Murder ×3; armed robbery ×2; false imprisonment ×2; recklessly endangering life ×2; intentionally causing injury; assault; using a firearm to resist arrest	3× life imprisonment plus 7 years	38	September 1995	[111]
Bandali Debs	Victoria	Murder ×4	4× life imprisonment	49	February 2003	Sentenced to two life sentences in February 2003; a further life sentence in June 2007; and another in February 2012 [112][113][114]
Raymond Edmunds	Victoria	Murder ×2; rape ×6; attempted rape ×2; indecent assault ×3; assault causing bodily harm ×2; attempt to escape lawful custody and false imprisonment	2× life imprisonment plus 54 years 5 months	42	April 1986	Sentenced to 2× life plus 30 years for two murders and rapes in October 1986;[115] received an additional 12 months for attempted prison escape in 1992, and 23 years and 5 months for further rapes in 2019
Paul Steven Haigh	Victoria	Murder ×6, armed robbery	6× life imprisonment + 60 years	23	November 1980	Haigh was convicted of the murder of an inmate in 1993 and sentenced to a further term of life imprisonment with a minimum term of 15 years[116]
Peter Dupas	Victoria	Murder ×3	3× life imprisonment	47	August 2000	First life imprisonment sentence imposed in August 2000; second in August 2004; the third in August 2007[117][118][119]
Robert Lowe	Victoria	Murder; kidnapping	Life imprisonment plus 15 years	57	December 1994	[120]
Stanley Taylor	Victoria	Murder; intentionally causing serious injury ×2; causing an explosion; burglary; car theft; theft	Life imprisonment plus 13 years	50	August 1988	Deceased; died October 2016[121]
John Bunting	South Australia	Murder ×11	11× life imprisonment	37	October 2003	[122]
Robert Wagner	South Australia	Murder ×10	10× life imprisonment	31	October 2003	Wagner's application for a non-parole period to be set was denied in May 2019[122][123]
Mark Rust	South Australia	Murder ×2; rape; assault; gross indecency	2× life imprisonment plus 12 years	39	April 2004	[124]
Rebecca Mahony	QLD	Attempted murder; rape ×13; indecent treatment of a child under 16 ×6; assault occasioning bodily harm while armed and in company ×3; unlawfully procuring a child under 16 years to commit and indecent act; taking a child for immoral purposes; making child exploitation material; deprivation of liberty; common assault; stupefying in order to commit an indictable offence; torture; unlawfully wounding another	2× life imprisonment plus 80 years	32	December 2011	[125] Mahoney's co-conspirator Andrew Shenfield was initially sentenced to life without parole, but his sentence was reduced to 18 years prison on appeal. Mahoney also appealed her sentence, but was denied and the original sentence upheld. [126][127][128][additional citation(s) needed]
Barrie Watts	QLD	Murder, rape, abduction	Life imprisonment plus 18 years	37	February 1990	[129]
Dennis Sore	QLD	Murder	Life imprisonment	43	February 2023	[130]
Anthony Harvey	WA	Murder ×5	5× life imprisonment	25	July 2019	[131] Harvey is the first person in Western Australia to receive a 'never to be released' order.[132]
Benjamin Hoffmann	NT	Murder ×3; manslaughter; recklessly endangering life ×3; threatening to kill; drug possession	3× life imprisonment plus 15 years	48	October 2022	[133]
Martin Leach	NT	Murder ×2; rape; assaulting a police officer	3× life imprisonment plus 3 months	25	May 1984	[134]
Andrew Albury	NT	Murder	Life imprisonment	22	July 1984	[135]
William Turner	NT	Various sexual assaults, including sexual assaults against children	Indefinite sentence plus nine years	52	May 2008	[136]
Martin Bryant	Tasmania	Murder ×35; attempted murder ×20; grievous bodily harm ×3; wounding ×8; aggravated assault ×4; unlawful setting fire to property; arson	35× life imprisonment plus 1,652 years	29	November 1996	[137]
Allen Thompson	ACT	Murder ×6	6× life imprisonment	24	October 1984	[138][139]
Abuzar Sultani	NSW	Murder ×3	3× Life imprisonment	32	December 2021	[140]
Siar Munshizada	NSW	Murder ×3	3× Life imprisonment	33	December 2021	[140]
Patricia Byers	QLD (incarcerated in South Australia)	Murder, attempted murder	Life imprisonment plus 12 years		1999	[141]

See also

• Punishment in Australia