Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee

The Community Support and Services Committee examined the Child Protection and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2020 and recommended it be passed. The bill had previously been examined by the Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee in the 56th Parliament, which also recommended passage. A significant majority of submissions opposed the bill's proposed changes to the permanency hierarchy, particularly regarding the inclusion of adoption as the third preference for non-Indigenous children, with strong concerns raised about the impact on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. The committee acknowledged these concerns but concluded that existing safeguards in the Child Protection Act and Adoption Act were sufficient.

The Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee examined the Crime and Corruption and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2018, which replicated the lapsed 2017 bill from the 55th Parliament. As the bill was identical to the earlier version, the committee relied on evidence already gathered by its predecessor and did not seek further submissions. The committee recommended the bill be passed, supporting the proposed changes to the definition of corrupt conduct and the expansion of the Crime and Corruption Commission's investigatory jurisdiction.

The Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee examined the bill over two months, receiving 14 submissions and holding a public briefing and hearing. The committee recommended the bill be passed. Key areas of concern raised by stakeholders included the regulation of gel blasters as replica firearms, the blanket ban on transferring certain prisoners to low custody facilities, increased penalties for assaulting corrective services officers, and restrictions on payments to prisoners. LNP members filed a statement of reservation objecting to the gel blaster regulation and early parole release provisions.

The Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee examined the Co-operatives National Law Bill 2020 over seven weeks, receiving three submissions, holding a public departmental briefing and a public hearing. All submitters supported the bill. The committee recommended the bill be passed, finding that while it raised several fundamental legislative principle and human rights concerns -- particularly regarding inspector powers, self-incrimination protections, and the automatic adoption of future amendments from NSW -- these were justified in the circumstances.

The Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee examined the bill over five months, receiving nine submissions and holding a public briefing and hearing. The committee recommended the bill not be passed, despite acknowledging arguments on both sides of the optional preferential voting debate. LNP members dissented, filing a Statement of Reservation supporting the bill's intent to restore optional preferential voting as recommended by the post-Fitzgerald Electoral and Administrative Review Commission.

The Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee examined this omnibus bill, which proposes amendments to 33 Acts and four Regulations across areas including coronial services, the Criminal Code, court administration, and succession law. The committee received submissions from six stakeholders, held a public departmental briefing and a public hearing, and recommended the bill be passed. While the committee found the bill's objectives were sound and most amendments were justified, it noted several fundamental legislative principle issues including retrospective operation, abrogation of the privilege against self-incrimination in coronial inquests, and limitations on the right to trial by jury.

The Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee examined the bill over approximately two months, receiving 26 submissions and holding a public hearing. The committee unanimously recommended the bill be passed. The bill implements key recommendations from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, the Queensland Sentencing Advisory Council's report on child exploitation material, and creates new offences for child abuse objects (child sex dolls). Significant debate centred on mandatory reporting obligations for all adults, the application of failure-to-report and failure-to-protect offences to information gained during religious confession, and the retrospective application of certain sentencing reforms.

The Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee examined the bill over seven weeks, receiving ten submissions and holding a public briefing and hearing. The committee recommended the bill be passed. The Queensland Law Society raised significant concerns about the breadth of expanded electronic device access powers, arguing they could allow police unfettered access to digital information of people not suspected of any offence. Sex worker organisations strongly opposed proposed amendments to the Prostitution Act, and the Minister subsequently withdrew those provisions, referring sex industry regulation to the Queensland Law Reform Commission instead.

The Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee examined this private member's bill over six months, receiving 132 submissions and holding public hearings in Brisbane and Warwick. The committee recommended the bill not be passed, finding that the proposed penalties were excessive and disproportionate compared to existing offences, the bill's drafting was ambiguous in key areas, and existing Queensland laws already adequately addressed the conduct targeted by the bill. LNP members filed a statement of reservation dissenting from the majority position.

The Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee examined this Private Member's Bill introduced by Trevor Watts MP (LNP), which proposed firearm prohibition orders, new firearms offences, and increased penalties. The committee received nine submissions and held public hearings. The committee recommended the bill not be passed, citing a lack of stakeholder consultation, concerns about the breadth of police powers to impose firearm prohibition orders without judicial oversight, overlap with existing offences, and insufficient justification for significantly increased penalties. LNP members filed a Statement of Reservation supporting the bill.

The Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee examined the bill under a truncated timeframe after the government brought the reporting date forward from 4 November to 21 October 2019, citing ongoing protest activity. The committee received over 200 submissions, the vast majority opposing the bill, and held a public hearing on 11 October 2019. Despite substantial concerns raised about the bill's impact on the right to peaceful assembly and the adequacy of existing laws, the committee recommended the bill be passed. Deputy Chair James Lister MP filed a Statement of Reservation expressing concern that the bill's scope was too narrow and would have limited impact on protest activity.

The Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee examined the bill over approximately six weeks, receiving four submissions and holding a public hearing. The committee recommended the bill be passed, finding the national scheme for interstate transfer of community based sentences to be sound. Stakeholders raised concerns about decision-making timeframes, the discretionary nature of transfer decisions, and the lack of a merits review process, but the committee was broadly satisfied with the department's responses. No dissenting views were filed.

The Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee examined the Youth Justice and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2019 over two months, receiving 28 submissions and holding a public hearing with 12 stakeholder organisations. The committee recommended the bill be passed. While stakeholders broadly supported the bill's reforms to bail decision-making, information sharing, and protections for children in the justice system, several raised concerns about the child homicide sentencing provision and the need for adequate resourcing to implement the changes. LNP members filed a Statement of Reservation calling for a 72-hour cap on children's detention in watch houses.

The Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee examined this private member's bill, which sought to implement recommendations 89 to 94 of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. The committee recommended the bill not be passed, raising concerns about the breadth of key definitions, the retrospective application of the proposed duty of institutions, and fundamental legislative principle issues including that an individual could be nominated as a defendant without their consent. A parallel government bill (Civil Liability and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2018) was addressing several of the same Royal Commission recommendations at the time.

The Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee examined this private member's bill introduced by David Janetzki MP, which proposed mandatory minimum non-parole periods for the murder of a child (25 years) and a new offence of child homicide (15 years). The committee received 14 submissions and held public hearings, with the overwhelming weight of stakeholder evidence opposing the mandatory sentencing provisions. The committee recommended the bill not be passed.

The Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee examined the bill over two months, receiving 14 submissions and holding a public hearing with seven stakeholder groups. The committee recommended the bill be passed, noting it implements the Queensland Sentencing Advisory Council's recommendation on child homicide sentencing. Stakeholders were divided, with child protection organisations supporting the reforms while the Bar Association of Queensland, Queensland Law Society, and others raised serious concerns about expanding the definition of murder to include reckless indifference and the interaction with mandatory life sentencing. LNP committee members filed a statement of reservation, supporting the bill only if passed in conjunction with a related Private Member's Bill.

The Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee examined this private member's bill over five months, receiving three submissions and holding a public hearing. The committee recommended the bill not be passed, citing significant concerns about proportionality, the removal of judicial oversight in favour of executive review by the Governor in Council, and potential constitutional invalidity. LNP members filed a statement of reservation disagreeing with the committee's recommendation.

The Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee examined the bill over five months, receiving seven submissions and holding a public briefing and hearing. The committee recommended the bill not be passed, finding it inconsistent with the objectives of the Anti-Discrimination Act 1991 and with fundamental legislative principles. The committee concluded the bill would likely negatively impact transgender, gender diverse and intersex community members.

The Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee examined the bill over approximately four months, receiving five submissions and holding a public briefing and hearing. The committee recommended the bill be passed, acknowledging stakeholder concerns about erosion of the presumption of innocence and fettering of judicial discretion, but concluding that the unique risk posed by persons with terrorism links justified the departure from usual legal protections. Significant concerns were raised about the bill's application to children, its retrospective operation, and its potential to disincentivise rehabilitation.

The Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee examined the Civil Liability and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2018 over several months, receiving submissions and holding public hearings. The committee recommended the bill be passed, finding that the reforms would improve fair access and outcomes for survivors of institutional child sexual abuse seeking civil damages. Opposition members filed a statement of reservation raising concerns about the absence of retrospectivity, the limitation of the bill to sexual abuse only, and the lack of vicarious liability provisions.

The Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee examined the Human Rights Bill 2018 over approximately three months, receiving 149 written submissions and 135 form submissions, holding a public briefing with the Department of Justice and Attorney-General, and conducting a public hearing with stakeholders. The committee recommended that the Bill be passed, noting broad support from the majority of submitters for the proposed dialogue model of human rights protection. Opposition members filed a statement of reservation expressing concerns about whether the Bill added substantive legal protection beyond existing law, the potential for frivolous complaints, and the impact of declarations of incompatibility on the separation of powers.

The Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee examined the bill over six weeks, receiving 18 submissions and holding a public hearing with legal, women's advocacy, and child protection organisations. The committee unanimously recommended the bill be passed, finding the new offences were necessary to close gaps in existing criminal laws that did not adequately cover all forms of non-consensual sharing of intimate images. The committee also called for a review of the new laws three years after commencement to ensure they remain effective as technology changes.

The Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee recommended the Liquor (Rural Hotels Concession) Amendment Bill 2018 be passed. The bill, a Private Member's Bill introduced by Robbie Katter MP, proposed reducing liquor licence fees by 90 per cent for approximately 110 commercial hotels in very remote Queensland. The committee relied on the extensive inquiry conducted by the previous parliament's committee into the substantially identical 2017 Bill, which included 19 submissions, roundtable discussions in seven remote towns, and public hearings. No dissenting views were recorded.

The Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee examined this wide-ranging police powers bill over approximately two months, receiving five submissions and holding a public briefing and hearing with the Queensland Police Service, Queensland Corrective Services, and key legal stakeholders. The committee recommended the bill be passed, finding that the proposed expansions of police powers — including new search powers for high-risk missing persons, a lowered crime scene threshold, and compelled access to locked electronic storage devices — were justified on balance, noting the safeguards built into the bill such as judicial oversight, body-worn camera recording requirements, and a mandatory five-year review by the Crime and Corruption Commission. The Bar Association of Queensland and Queensland Law Society raised concerns about civil liberties implications of several provisions, but the committee concluded the potential breaches of fundamental legislative principles were outweighed by community safety benefits.

The Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee examined the bill over six weeks, receiving 10 submissions and holding a public hearing. All submitters supported the bill. The committee unanimously recommended the bill be passed, recognising that removing the requirement for married transgender people to divorce before updating their registered sex would have a significant positive impact for members of the LGBTIQ community.

The Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee examined the Guardianship and Administration and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2018, which was substantially the same as a 2017 bill that lapsed when Parliament was dissolved. The committee relied on evidence gathered by the previous Parliament's committee, including 18 submissions and a public hearing with over a dozen witnesses. The committee recommended the bill be passed, noting broad stakeholder support for reforms to modernise Queensland's guardianship laws and strengthen safeguards for adults with impaired capacity. A Statement of Reservation was filed but its content was not available in the extracted report text.

The Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee examined the bill over a short timeframe, holding a public hearing in Brisbane on 26 February 2018 with witnesses including the Privacy Commissioner. The committee recommended the bill be passed, while also recommending a review of the legislation two years after commencement to evaluate how the identity matching services were being used. The bill also included unrelated amendments to extend liquor trading hours on the Gold Coast during the 2018 Commonwealth Games.