Former NSW Labor minister and child sex offender Milton Orkopoulos has been caught using drugs behind bars, even though they were a key feature of his crimes.
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The 62-year-old, who served as the Aboriginal affairs minister under then-premier Morris Iemma, plied multiple young, male victims with cannabis, heroin and alcohol before sexually abusing them between 1995 and his arrest in 2006.
In submissions urging the State Parole Authority to keep him locked up for the entirety of his jail term of 13 years and eight months, lawyers on behalf of the NSW government said Orkopoulos used his "position of esteem" to gain the trust of his victims, aged between 15 and 20.
"One victim was introduced through his family's association with the Labor Party, whilst another took up an offer by the offender to do work experience in his office," the submissions say.
Orkopoulos has been the subject of five misconduct charges while in prison, three relating to him failing a prescribed drug test.
According to the submissions, he most recently failed a urine test on February 21. He told prison authorities he used the drug buprenorphine once when he tried to overdose on his medication "due to low mood".
"When confronted with further information, the offender admitted to using drugs intermittently, but no more than once a month since December 2018," the submissions read, adding that Orkopoulos acknowledged using buprenorphine as a "coping" strategy.
"Noting the integral role that the offender's substance abuse played in his offending, it is of further concern that the offender relatively recently reverted to non-prescribed drug use in custody to manage his emotions and stress."
His solicitor, Omar Juweinat, told the authority during a brief hearing on Friday morning that the failed urine test was a "spot of bother".
"There have been a number of behavioural issues but nothing, in my respectful submission, has caused a great deal of disquiet," he said.
Orkopoulos was jailed in May 2008 for a minimum of nine years after being convicted of several counts of sex with a male between 10 and 18, indecent assault, supplying prohibited drugs and possessing child pornography.
State Parole Authority chairman, former Supreme Court judge James Wood, has reserved his decision on whether to release Orkopoulos before his sentence expires in October 2021, after the authority previously signalled an intention to grant him parole.
Mr Juweinat said his client would be left in the "undesirable position" of serving out the balance of his sentence having completed available rehabilitation programs.
"This is an applicant who's been able to demonstrate a great deal of rehabilitation while in a custodial setting," he said.
"The nub of the submission is it is well and truly within the public interest and in fact the interest of the applicant [Orkopoulos] that parole be granted."
He said Orkopoulos was also prepared to submit to electronic monitoring if released.
The state acknowledged that both the Serious Offenders Review Council and Community Corrections had recommended Orkopoulos' parole but argued he would pose a significant risk to the community upon his release.
But it argued that, despite his participation in treatment, his account of his offending remained unchanged from his account during the court proceedings.
In a proposed list of parole conditions, Orkopoulos would be banned from using prohibited drugs, being in the company of a person under 16 without an adult, or contacting or stalking his victims or their families.
A decision will be handed down on December 6.
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