Hi Julia
I'm not sure the prisoner exchange agreement is a done deal yet.
According to reports in the media back at around Corby's sentencing time, pressure was being applied on the Australian gov't to initiate a prisoner exchange system with Indonesia, similar to the ones we have with other countries.
Many people back then, in the media and elsewhere, were predicting that this agreement would eventuate but not as quickly as it appears to have been done
.
Alexander Downer said on Lateline last night that he hoped the deel could be finalised by Christmas. He went on to say that an Indonesian official will be coming out to Australia in September for further discussions to hopefully iron out the finer details and so hopefully by Christmas the agreement will be in place.
But the final stumbling block will be the Indonesian parliamnent. Whatever agreement we come up with, will have to be ratified by the Indonesian parliament according to the Lateline reporter. If it isn't, then the whole agreement falls in a heap if points of contention cannot be renegotiated.
Also, according to Downer, prisoners in Indonesia are often given an early pardon by the Indonesian president (for whatever reasons) and maybe some of the Australians might feel their chances of receiving an early pardon might be diminished if they are serving at least parts of their sentences in Australia and so might be reluctant to make an application to be transferred back to Australia.
Australians transferred back from an Indonesian prison to an Australian prison will not be subject to our parole system for early release because they will still be serving sentences under the laws of the country in which they were originally sentenced. (according to Downer and that's the way it should be imo)
cheers
bullmarket