Justice and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2023
Plain English Summary
Overview
This bill makes wide-ranging changes across more than 30 Queensland Acts covering the justice system, courts, the legal profession, elections, and criminal law. It introduces formal recognition of unborn children's deaths in criminal proceedings, reforms identification rules for defendants charged with sexual offences, strengthens oversight of Justices of the Peace, and modernises numerous administrative processes across Queensland's legal framework.
Who it affects
This bill affects families impacted by the loss of an unborn child through crime, sexual assault victim-survivors and defendants, Justices of the Peace and Commissioners for Declarations, lawyers and their clients, Queensland voters, people making statutory declarations or affidavits, QCAT members, community visitors, and public accountants.
Recognising the deaths of unborn children
Courts must now treat the destruction of an unborn child's life as an aggravating factor when sentencing for serious offences against a pregnant person. The unborn child's name can be included in indictments, and victims' family members gain new rights and access to funeral expense assistance.
- Destruction of an unborn child's life is a mandatory aggravating factor for murder, manslaughter, grievous bodily harm, dangerous driving, and other serious offences
- Unborn child's name or description can be included in court indictments
- Family members of an unborn child recognised as victims under the Victims of Crime Assistance Act
- Up to $8,000 in funeral expense assistance available for unborn children, with a three-year application window
Sexual offence defendant identification
The bill removes the prohibition on publicly identifying adult defendants charged with sexual offences before committal proceedings. This brings Queensland in line with most other Australian jurisdictions. A new non-publication order regime allows courts to suppress identification in specific circumstances.
- Adult defendants charged with sexual offences can now be publicly identified before committal
- Courts can make non-publication orders where identification would prejudice justice, cause undue hardship, or endanger safety
- Interim non-publication orders must be heard within 72 hours where practicable
- Penalties for breaching non-publication orders: up to 100 penalty units or 2 years imprisonment for individuals, 1,000 penalty units for corporations
Justices of the Peace reform
The bill overhauls how JPs and Commissioners for Declarations are appointed, monitored, and removed. A formal code of conduct, disqualifying conviction checks, and continuous criminal history monitoring are introduced to strengthen the integrity of these community roles.
- Statutory code of conduct for JPs and Commissioners for Declarations
- Continuous criminal history monitoring by Queensland Police after appointment
- New investigation, suspension, and show cause processes before removal from office
- Acts performed by a JP whose appointment has ended remain valid to protect the community
Legal profession costs and client files
The bill introduces a tiered system for lawyers disclosing costs to clients and allows law practices to destroy uncollected client documents after seven years. It also confirms English proficiency as a requirement for legal profession admission.
- No costs disclosure required for legal fees under $750 (excluding disbursements)
- Abbreviated costs disclosure for fees between $750 and $3,000
- Full detailed disclosure required for fees exceeding $3,000
- Law practices may destroy client documents after 7 years if they cannot contact the client
Electoral improvements
The bill makes several changes to improve election administration ahead of the 2024 state general election, including clarifying electoral roll cut-off times, expanding postal voting eligibility, and saving ballots that are misplaced outside declaration envelopes.
- Electoral rolls close at 6pm on the cut-off day, providing certainty for voters and administrators
- Special postal voter eligibility expanded to include hospital patients and carers of the ill or infirm
- Ballot papers found outside declaration envelopes but inside the reply-paid envelope can still be counted
- 60-day time limit for completing electoral redistributions replaced with 'as soon as practicable'
Court and tribunal administration
The bill modernises the Appeal Costs Fund, replaces the Court Funds Act 1973 with new provisions, streamlines QCAT appointments, and enables preliminary disclosure orders in District and Magistrates Courts.
- QCAT appointment process streamlined through member pools, allowing faster filling of vacancies
- Land Court members can now serve as supplementary QCAT members
- Court Funds Act 1973 repealed and replaced with modernised provisions under the Civil Proceedings Act
- District and Magistrates Courts can make preliminary disclosure orders to help identify prospective defendants
Oaths, declarations, and other reforms
The bill consolidates and simplifies rules for making affidavits and statutory declarations, clarifies community visitor employment arrangements, removes public accountants from trust account regulation, and makes numerous technical updates across other Acts.
- Witnesses to affidavits and statutory declarations can choose from address, phone number, or email instead of disclosing their employer
- Substitute signatory rules consolidated into a single framework for in-person, electronic, and audio-visual formats
- Public accountants removed from Trust Accounts Act regulation, with a two-year transition period
- Common definitions consolidated into the Acts Interpretation Act, reducing duplication across dozens of Acts
Bill Story
The journey of this bill through Parliament, including debate and recorded votes.
▸Committee25 May 2023View Hansard
Referred to Legal Affairs and Safety Committee
The Legal Affairs and Safety Committee examined the Justice and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2023 over two months, receiving 12 submissions, a written briefing from the Department of Justice and Attorney-General, a public briefing, and a public hearing. The committee recommended the bill be passed and made six additional recommendations addressing responsible media reporting of sexual violence, monitoring impacts on reporting barriers for women, trauma-informed training for those working with victims, resourcing for victim support services, inclusive language in the Criminal Code, and continued work on domestic and family violence safety. The Queensland Government supported or supported in principle all seven recommendations.
Key findings (5)
- The committee examined the removal of defendant anonymity restrictions in sexual offence cases, noting Queensland was one of only two jurisdictions still maintaining pre-committal anonymity.
- Stakeholders raised concerns about whether naming defendants in sexual offence cases could unintentionally discourage women from reporting, prompting the committee to recommend ongoing government monitoring.
- The bill's proposal to recognise the death of an unborn child as an aggravating factor in sentencing for serious offences received broad support, with the committee noting additional resourcing and trauma-informed training would be needed for victim support services.
- Amendments to clarify that providing financial support for a lawful termination of pregnancy does not constitute a criminal offence were supported, with the committee recommending the use of gender-inclusive language in the relevant provisions.
- Electoral reforms to save postal votes not enclosed in official reply-paid envelopes were strongly supported by the Electoral Commission of Queensland, which estimated up to 30 per cent of the 57,000 rejected postal votes from the 2020 state election could have been saved under the new provision.
Recommendations (7)
- The committee recommends that the Justice and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2023 be passed.
- The committee recommends that the Queensland Government prioritise the development of a guide for the media to support responsible reporting of sexual violence in accordance with Recommendation 84 of the Hear her Voice Report 2.
- The committee recommends that the Queensland Government monitor whether the naming of offenders unintentionally creates barriers for women to report sexual offences.
- The committee recommends that proposed reforms introduced by the Bill relating to victims are accompanied with trauma-informed training for those interacting with victims in the criminal justice system, including legal services, victims' services and investigating and prosecution bodies.
- The committee recommends that the Queensland Government consider the service and resourcing impacts that these reforms will have on the victim support and community legal service sectors.
- The committee recommends that the Queensland Government consider changing 'woman' to 'pregnant person' in proposed s 319A of the Bill to better reflect the diversity and modern community expectations of Queensland.
- The committee recommends that the Queensland Government continues to undertake work in relation to improving safety for victims of domestic and family violence, noting the prevalence of systems abuse.
Committee report tabled
▸Second Reading12 Sept 2023View Hansard
▸34 members spoke33 support1 mixed
Spoke in support of the bill, focusing on the provisions allowing law practices to destroy client documents after seven years and the increase in cost disclosure thresholds.
“The bill, if passed to become an act, will allow a law practice to destroy or dispose of routine client documents in certain circumstances and increase the costs disclosure threshold for section 311 of the Legal Profession Act 2007 to $3,000.”— 2023-09-13View Hansard
Moved the second reading as Attorney-General, outlining the bill's reforms including removing restrictions on naming sexual offence defendants before committal, recognising the death of unborn children as an aggravating factor in sentencing, and changes to the Legal Profession Act.
“The bill also contains a number of important reforms to improve Queensland's justice system which will further protect women, mothers, victims and survivors.”— 2023-09-12View Hansard
Championed Sophie's Law provisions in the bill, having worked with Sarah and Peter Milosevic since 2016 to see recognition of unborn children killed by criminal conduct. Acknowledged the bipartisan approach that produced better laws.
“This legislation will not help them, but it will help other families who lose an unborn child at the hands of a criminal.”— 2023-09-13View Hansard
Supported the bill while criticising the use of an omnibus format, strongly endorsing Sophie's Law provisions and the removal of anonymity for sexual offence defendants, and welcoming changes to the Legal Profession Act cost disclosure thresholds.
“It is a pity this change is included in an omnibus bill because, as I pointed out earlier, it could have been dealt with separately and been known as Sophie's Law in memory of Sophie.”— 2023-09-12View Hansard
Supported the bill, paying tribute to the Milosevics and highlighting the removal of restrictions on identifying defendants charged with sexual offences as implementing the Women's Safety and Justice Taskforce recommendation.
“I cannot thank the Milosevics enough for their bravery in the face of what must be unfathomable grief; to keep on with this over such a period of time and to have faith that it would happen if they just kept on going.”— 2023-09-13View Hansard
Supported the bill as a committee member, emphasising the importance of recognising unborn children who die due to criminal conduct and removing anonymity protections for sexual offence defendants.
“I commend this bill to the House both to protect the victims of sexual violence and to acknowledge the pain of parents who have lost their unborn children to criminal acts.”— 2023-09-12View Hansard
Supported the bill, speaking to the removal of defendant anonymity for sexual offences, the recognition of unborn children killed by criminal conduct, and changes to law practice document retention rules.
“Every now and then we hear a contribution in this House that touches everybody. That was such a moment.”— 2023-09-13View Hansard
Supported the bill while strongly criticising the omnibus format, championing Sophie's Law provisions and expressing concern about the removal of the 60-day redistribution time frame from the Electoral Act.
“Sophie's Law means there is some justice in the devastation of losing a child.”— 2023-09-12View Hansard
Supported the bill, focusing on the continuous monitoring provisions for justices of the peace and the provisions allowing the name of an unborn child to be included on an indictment.
“It allows the court to consider the loss of that pregnancy as an aggravating factor in specific circumstances.”— 2023-09-13View Hansard
Supported the bill as committee chair, outlining the committee's seven recommendations and discussing the key reforms including removing sexual offence defendant anonymity, recognising unborn children in indictments, and changes to the Electoral Act.
“The Legal Affairs and Safety Committee, in its report No. 50, tabled in the Assembly on 28 July 2023, has recommended to the Assembly that this bill be passed.”— 2023-09-12View Hansard
Supported Sophie's Law and the bill overall, while raising concerns about the Electoral Act amendment replacing the 60-day redistribution time frame with 'as soon as practicable' and the progressive removal of the definition of 'woman' from statute books.
“Sophie's Law will forever be the legacy that she leaves behind.”— 2023-09-13View Hansard
Supported the bill, noting the importance of removing defendant anonymity for sexual offences given no evidence of negative consequences in other jurisdictions, while agreeing with concerns about omnibus bills undermining representative democracy.
“However, the number of Queenslanders who may be saved as a result of the publication of an identity is extremely relevant.”— 2023-09-12View Hansard
Supported the bill, highlighting the transparency improvements for sexual offence proceedings, the recognition of unborn children, and praising justices of the peace for their community service.
“In reading Sarah and Peter's submission it is hard to imagine the loss of their baby Sophie and that the driver of that vehicle lost his license for five months and received a $950 fine. That is just unimaginable.”— 2023-09-13View Hansard
Supported the bill as a committee member, speaking as a victim advocate about the importance of removing rape myth protections for sexual offence defendants and recognising unborn children lost through criminal conduct.
“Most people are stunned to learn that accused rapists have these protections.”— 2023-09-12View Hansard
Supported the bill while advocating strongly for the postal voting amendments, having raised the issue of 57,000 rejected postal ballots after the 2020 election. Criticised the Electoral Act change removing the 60-day redistribution finalisation time frame.
“If I had not raised this issue in the House on behalf of those 57,000 people whose votes were rejected and the 17,000 the ECQ indicated were valid, I do wonder whether we would have seen the amendments before us today.”— 2023-09-13View Hansard
Supported the bill, welcoming Sophie's Law and the Legal Profession Act changes, but raised concerns about the Electoral Act redistribution time frame removal and the absence of media guidelines at the committee stage for the sexual offence reporting changes.
“This bill should be known as Sophie's Law, but unfortunately due to the government putting these provisions into an omnibus bill it cannot be known expressly as Sophie's Law.”— 2023-09-12View Hansard
Supported the bill, addressing the recognition of unborn children killed by criminal conduct, the removal of defendant anonymity for sexual offences, and postal voting improvements.
“I am proud to be part of a Palaszczuk government that is committed to improving the way the justice system supports victims, and these amendments progress an important aspect of this work.”— 2023-09-13View Hansard
Supported the bill as Minister for Women and former Attorney-General, focusing on the recognition of unborn children in the justice system, the clarification around financial assistance for lawful terminations, and the removal of sexual offence defendant anonymity.
“Queensland women absolutely deserve safe, compassionate and accessible reproductive health care.”— 2023-09-12View Hansard
Supported the bill's substantive measures while criticising the omnibus format. Praised the Milosevics' advocacy for Sophie's Law, supported the sexual offence defendant identification changes, and argued strongly that rejected postal votes at the 2020 election may have changed outcomes in Bundaberg and Nicklin.
“Sophie's legacy will be a safer Queensland where those who inflict harm on an unborn child will be sentenced accordingly.”— 2023-09-13View Hansard
Supported the bill, particularly Sophie's Law, while criticising the omnibus format and crediting the former attorney-general (now health minister) rather than the current Attorney-General for progressing the reforms.
“Sophie does matter and that is why we are debating this bill in Sophie's memory today.”— 2023-09-12View Hansard
Supported the bill, praising the member for Lockyer's advocacy for Sophie's Law and emphasising the importance of the postal vote amendments to ensure every eligible vote counts, particularly for people with literacy challenges or English as a second language.
“One of the important features of our electoral system is that those who are legally entitled to vote have a right for their vote to count.”— 2023-09-13View Hansard
Supported the bill, emphasising the depth of consultation work behind it, welcoming the accelerated media guidelines for sexual offence reporting, and supporting the electoral, JP and legal profession reforms.
“These reforms are perhaps technical or legalistic in nature, but they make very important changes.”— 2023-09-12View Hansard
Supported the bill, praising Sophie's Law and the postal voting amendments. Shared a personal story about veterans being denied the opportunity to vote as inpatients and criticised the omnibus bill format.
“I am very proud to be a supporter of the bill for that reason, if for no other.”— 2023-09-13View Hansard
Supported the bill while criticising the omnibus format, noting the opposition's support for Sophie's Law and summarising key stakeholder concerns about the breadth of amendments.
“This situation severely curtails the ability of members to engage in thorough and robust debates on each proposed amendment.”— 2023-09-12View Hansard
Delivered an emotional speech in support, praising the bipartisan approach to Sophie's Law and the member for Lockyer's advocacy. Argued the aggravating factor provisions close a gap in the law that failed to recognise the loss of unborn children.
“Sarah and Peter truly loved their unborn child, Sophie. Their tenacity in seeing through this legal change here today is an expression of that love.”— 2023-09-13View Hansard
Supported the bill, focusing on the recognition of unborn children in the justice system and the removal of anonymity protections for sexual offence defendants in line with the Women's Safety and Justice Taskforce recommendations.
“Removing barriers to that reporting is essential if we are to hold perpetrators to account.”— 2023-09-12View Hansard
Supported the bill, particularly the removal of defendant anonymity for sexual offences as important for destigmatising sexual violence complaints. Praised the bipartisan approach to Sophie's Law and called for monitoring of the legislation's impact on reporting rates.
“Sexual violence has no place in Queensland. It has no place in our community. We must take measures to ensure that when someone is violated through sexual violence they feel free and able to come forward.”— 2023-09-13View Hansard
Expressed support for the clarification around financial assistance for terminations and the removal of sexual offence defendant anonymity, but raised concerns about the use of the term 'unborn child' potentially paving the way for fetal personhood arguments, and the new aggravating factor limiting judicial sentencing discretion.
“However, we always need to exercise the utmost caution when we are considering any changes such as this one that will limit the exercise of discretion by our courts in issuing sentences.”— 2023-09-12View Hansard
Supported the bill, welcoming the aggravating factor for the death of an unborn child and the provision of funeral cost compensation for affected families.
“The next family that goes through the heartache of suffering a criminal act that results in the death of an unborn child now have supports within our legal system in which their child is acknowledged first and foremost.”— 2023-09-13View Hansard
Supported the bill, emphasising the importance of removing defendant anonymity for sexual offences in line with all other criminal offences, and the recognition of unborn children as an aggravating factor in sentencing.
“Apart than the Northern Territory, Queensland is the only state or territory that currently maintains a defendant's anonymity in certain cases. It is time to change that.”— 2023-09-12View Hansard
Supported the bill and Sophie's Law, acknowledging the Milosevics' campaigning. Criticised the omnibus format and expressed disappointment that Sophie's Law was not a standalone bill. Noted concerns about the use of 'birthing parent' language.
“I want to say just how powerful it would have been if Sophie's Law could have been a standalone bill. A lot more members in this House could have spoken about stories that are as powerful.”— 2023-09-13View Hansard
Supported the bill while raising concerns about unintended consequences of naming sexual offence defendants in small and Indigenous communities, and criticising the Electoral Act redistribution time frame changes.
“There is no anonymity in small towns and feelings can become very heated. The person has been accused but not convicted.”— 2023-09-12View Hansard
Supported the bill, emphasising the importance of recognising the loss of unborn children through criminal conduct while noting the amendments do not affect lawful termination of pregnancy or the born-alive rule.
“To lose an unborn child as the result of another person's criminal actions is profoundly distressing to the parents, the family and the whole community.”— 2023-09-13View Hansard
As Attorney-General, replied to the second reading debate, confirming the bill enacts Sophie's Law. Announced amendments to set a commencement date for the sexual offence identification provisions and to increase the abbreviated cost disclosure threshold from $750 to $1,500.
“Let us be clear: this bill will enact Sophie's Law. That is what this does. Because of Sarah's and Peter's advocacy, the amendments will mean other families who experience the unimaginable tragedy of losing their unborn child because of criminal conduct can get justice.”— 2023-09-13View Hansard
▸In Detail13 Sept 2023View Hansard
Amendments 1-2: Set a commencement date of 3 October 2023 for Part 9 of the bill (which amends the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 1978 to remove restrictions on identifying defendants charged with sexual offences).
Amendment 3: Increased the abbreviated cost disclosure threshold from $750 to $1,500, responding to concerns from the Queensland Law Society that the lower threshold would impose new regulatory burden on small-fee legal matters.
Amendments 4-6: Clarified the meaning of 'client documents' under the new provision allowing destruction of client files by law practices, and confirmed its application to files held by the Queensland Law Society.