The state government flagged its possible consideration of the parole law reform after New South Wales announced its intention to legislate for stronger no body, no parole laws (NBNP) following Chris Dawson's murder conviction for his wife Lynne, whose body has not been found.

Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory are the only Australian jurisdictions which have not adopted the laws.

University of Tasmania senior lecturer in criminology Loene Howes said such laws decrease fairness in the justice system by eroding the purpose of parole, which is to promote successful reintegration into the community.

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Under the laws, parole would not be considered nor granted unless convicted murderers provided information or assistance to authorities to locate the human remains of their victims.

In Queensland, the parole board must refuse parole unless a murderer has provided "satisfactory cooperation" to find a body.

To date, six of Queensland's ten NBNP applicants were found by the parole board to have cooperated satisfactorily, but no victims' bodies or human remains have been found.

Dr Howes said the laws aim to motivate convicted murderers to cooperate with authorities to locate the bodies of victims, and provide closure to family, friends and the community.

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But Dr Howes said removing access to parole, or adding hurdles to obtain parole, was a human rights issue.

Moreover, she added that there are many problems with the laws, including the raising of false hopes in victims when the chances of even finding remains are slim.

"High profile cases attract a lot of police resources, media attention, and can raise the hopes in loved ones and the community. The police want to be seen doing everything they possibly can...it is just not clear whether these laws would really help," Dr Howes said.

"What tends to happen is that politicians can use these rare, well publicised cases to gain political ground by supporting and implementing a tough on crime policy...people might follow a case in the media and think, this is exactly what this case needs," she said.

"At the same time, these policies do not actually do much to help victims...it is giving them a false hope that they are going to find a loved ones remains and get closure, which may never happen, but keeps them open to that possibility."

Dr Howes said NBNP laws could lead to prisoners giving false and misleading information about body locations in an attempt to gain parole.

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She said they might be unable to provide such information because of current mental impairment, a lack of capacity at the time of the crime, or because there was more than one offender involved in the murder and they have no knowledge of the victim's location.

"This kind of law could condemn someone to serving a full sentence even if they are a deserving and model prisoner in many respects...and without the incentive of parole it is a lost opportunity for a prisoner to work towards positive change," she said.

Dr Howes raised Lindy Chamberlain's murder conviction as a good example of such laws decreasing fairness in the system in cases of wrongful conviction.

"If someone has pleaded not guilty, and they are factually innocent, then they wouldn't be able to provide that information."

She added that the passing of time may prevent a body or human remains from ever being found, despite a prisoner's cooperation.

"Someone could have moved the body, environmental conditions might have washed the body away, animals in the wild could have predated. Because there is such a long delay there might be little chance of finding any relevant traces in the present day."

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