Ex-Labor MP Orkopoulos closer to parole

Former NSW Labor minister and convicted pedophile Milton Orkopoulos is a step closer to parole.

But the 62-year-old sex offender's victims and the state government will be offered the opportunity to contest his conditional release after the parole authority on Friday formed an intention to grant parole during a private hearing.

Orkopoulos was the NSW Aboriginal Affairs minister in the Iemma Labor government when arrested in November 2006.

He was immediately dumped from the Labor party and quit office, and was later convicted of dozens of offences, including rape and seven counts of sex with a child.

The former MP for Swansea and former Lake Macquarie local councillor also pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography after being caught in November 2006 with a 19-page document downloaded from a website called "MeninBoys".

The public parole review hearing will be scheduled at a later date, a State Parole Authority spokeswoman said in a statement.

Orkopoulos was first eligible for parole on February 18, 2017. His sentence expires on October 18, 2021.