Coalition warned of problems with tool to predict future terrorist crime but continued to use it on offenders

The Morrison government was warned of serious problems with a tool designed to predict future crime before using it on 14 occasions over three years, including to justify the use of extraordinary preventative detention powers for terrorist offenders who had finished their sentences.

Guardian Australia can also reveal that, in three separate cases, the government failed to disclose to defendants that it knew of deep flaws with the tool being used to assess their likelihood of future offending.

Last week, the independent national security watchdog called for the abolishment of a regime allowing for the detention of convicted terrorists to prevent future crime, which relies heavily on a risk assessment tool known as VERA-2R.

But the government confirmed on Monday that, despite the report findings, the commonwealth continued to use the tool on 14 occasions across almost three more years.

In one of the cases, the government has now had to provide a formal explanation to both the court and the defendant for its non-disclosure.

The tool was used on multiple occasions in three cases to justify the use of continuing detention orders (CDOs) and extended supervision orders (ESOs), which allow for the imprisonment or control of individuals deemed to pose an unacceptable risk of committing a future terror offence.

The tool was also used in cases where the government did not end up applying for a CDO or ESO.

Offenders subject to CDOs or ESOs have been detained in prison for years after completing their sentences, or are required to comply with strict conditions upon their release, such as regularly reporting to police or electronic monitoring.

In many of the eight NSW cases, the courts did receive some warning of the limitations of trying to predict the risk of terror offences.

Shoebridge told the Guardian that the government had to come clean on whether the NSW government had been told about the Corner report, and when.

The Guardian revealed in July that the Australian Human Rights Commission and a peak body for Muslims had urged Donaldson to investigate the reliability of VERA-2R.