No 'proactive' payment for wrongfully jailed Folbigg

Kathleen Folbigg served 7300 days in jail over the deaths of her children before being freed in June (Dean Lewins/AAP PHOTOS)

Kathleen Folbigg will not receive special treatment when a grace payment for two decades of wrongful imprisonment is considered.

The 56-year-old could receive a multimillion dollar ex-gratia payment, in line with sums awarded to Lindy Chamberlain and others jailed and then acquitted.

Ms Folbigg served 7300 days in prison over the deaths of her four children before being freed in June after new scientific evidence cast reasonable doubt over her convictions.

But, nine months on, NSW Attorney-General Michael Daley said no offer had been made to Ms Folbigg.

"I do not take a proactive role in inviting people to apply for ex gratia, that applies in this instance as well," he told a budget estimates hearing on Wednesday.

Noting "the entire nation has been watching" the case, Greens MP Sue Higginson suggested waiting for Ms Folbigg to act meant "she'll have to carry that extra burden" to be able to get on with her life.

"You can characterise it that way," Mr Daley responded.

"Ms Folbigg will need to avail herself of the avenues that are available to any and all citizens in NSW in her situation."

Ms Chamberlain and her former husband Michael were awarded an ex-gratia payment of $1.3 million in 1992 for their prosecution in the Northern Territory over the death of baby daughter Azaria.

The figure would equate to about $3 million in today's money.

NSW's most senior law officer also cast doubt over the potential for the Folbigg case to change how the state reviews potentially wrongful convictions.

Ms Folbigg's case and pardon have sparked calls for an overhaul of justice systems nationwide to better keep pace with technology.

A significant body of fresh scientific evidence became available after Ms Folbigg’s trial, undermining what had been relied upon as powerful coincidence and tendency evidence.

The Australian Academy of Science has called for a legal mechanism to enable emerging evidence to inform cases after all other appeals have been exhausted.

Mr Daley said he needed to be convinced about the case to redraw the path taken by Ms Folbigg.

"I'm open to it but the more I look into it, the less convinced I am that there's a need for us to act on it now," he said.

"I'd need to be convinced that the current regime under the Crimes Appeal and Review Act is so deficient that it doesn't fulfil its statutory objectives.

"The Folbigg case shows it can and it does."

The comments come a day after Ms Folbigg's ex-husband died of a heart attack.

Craig Folbigg testified against his wife in the mother-of-four's 2003 murder trial and challenged her in subsequent inquiries into her convictions.

"Craig Folbigg died with a broken heart; a heart that was never allowed to mend following the deaths of his four children," lawyer Danny Eid said in a statement.

"He maintained his belief that his four children were murdered, and that belief, challenged by information relied on in a recent inquiry, should have been tested before a jury."

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