I'm squeaky clean, bandit tells Qld judge

Infamous Queensland bank robber and prison escapee Brenden Abbott has stressed to a Supreme Court judge considering his parole application he's been squeaky clean for a decade.

Abbott, known as the "Postcard Bandit", appeared in the Brisbane Supreme Court on Friday to challenge the Queensland Parole Board's decision not to release him last year.

Appearing via videolink, Abbott told Justice Jean Dalton he'd been "squeaky clean" since 2005 and hadn't breached any prison rules during that time.

He argued his fourth application for parole last year had been denied by the board because there was a policy in place that stopped his status being downgraded from high security.

Abbott also said the fact West Australian police indicated they would seek to extradite him to that state to face charges once he had been released had influenced the parole board which overturned a preliminary decision to release him last July.

"This is my fourth application for parole and they keep just moving the goal posts," he said.

"I've jumped through the hoops."

Scott McLeod, for the Parole Board, said the board made a considered decision when denying parole.

He said it was unlikely Abbott would be able to show why his high-security status should be downgraded but said there was no policy in place to say this couldn't happen.

But when questioned by Justice Dalton as to whether the decision to keep him a high-security prison was to do with policy or evidence, Mr McLeod said he couldn't immediately point to any evidence.

Justice Dalton reserved her decision, although no date was set.

Abbott, an inmate at the Woodford Correction Centre, has served 17 years of a 25-year sentence for a number of armed robberies and escapes.

He has spent much of the time in solitary confinement after escaping from jails in Queensland and Western Australia in the 1980s and '90s.

He was dubbed the "Postcard Bandit" for allegedly taunting police by sending postcards during his time on the run.