Home Affairs Minister blasts Victorian policy after man who aided terrorists released early

A Victorian man who was radicalised and travelled to Syria where he ended up aiding and abetting terrorists has been released from prison early.

Adam Brookman was arrested after returning to Australia in July 2015.

He pled guilty to a terrorist related offence — foreign incursion — and was sentenced to six years and eight months in jail.

He had another nine months left on his sentence, but was released early on Wednesday, due to prison term reductions introduced for time spent in lockdown in Victorian prisons during the pandemic.

Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews says Victoria’s policy must change.

“What the Victorian government needs to do is change its policy,” she told Neil Mitchell.

“In the case of this individual they have committed a Commonwealth offence, so I would say in the first instance they should be changing their policy so if you’ve committed a Commonwealth offence you actually are not going to be able to get a COVID discount.”

Ms Andrews says the AFP will monitor the man until official controls can be put in place.

NEIL MITCHELL: “So he can be monitored, can he?”

KAREN ANDREWS: “All of those sorts of things are in place. I actually spoke to the AFP before the sentencing, before the hearing on Wednesday, and they assured me all the work had been done, but it is significant resourcing from the  AFP which would not have been necessary if there was not the COVID discount.”

“They’re making sure that they have sufficient resources to make sure this individual is under the controls that are needed at this point in time while we seek actual controls,” she said.

Press PLAY below to hear Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews’ react to the sentencing discount

Image: Mark Evans / Getty