Penalties and Sentences Act 1992
LegislationReferenced in 38 bills
Victims' Commissioner and Sexual Violence Review Board Bill 2024
This bill establishes a Victims' Commissioner as an independent statutory officer to promote and protect the rights of victims of crime in Queensland. It also creates a Sexual Violence Review Board to identify and address systemic issues in how sexual offences are reported, investigated and prosecuted. The bill was recommended by the Women's Safety and Justice Taskforce and the Independent Commission of Inquiry into Queensland Police Service responses to domestic and family violence.
Fisheries (Sustainable Fisheries Strategy) Amendment Bill 2018
This bill overhauls Queensland's fisheries laws to implement the Sustainable Fisheries Strategy 2017-2027. It introduces harvest strategies as the main tool for managing fish stocks, cracks down on the illegal sale of fish (black marketing) with new trafficking offences and stronger inspector powers, and formally recognises charter fishing and traditional fishing as distinct sectors.
Domestic and Family Violence Protection and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2025
This bill strengthens Queensland's response to domestic and family violence by giving police the power to issue 12-month protection directions without going to court, piloting GPS ankle bracelet monitoring for high-risk perpetrators, and expanding video-recorded evidence to all Magistrates Courts statewide. It also improves oversight of providers delivering DFV intervention programs.
Pharmacy Business Ownership Bill 2023
This bill replaces Queensland's 20-year-old pharmacy ownership law with a modern licensing and regulatory framework. It establishes the Queensland Pharmacy Business Ownership Council as an independent body to oversee who can own pharmacies, introduces mandatory annual licensing, and strengthens protections against commercial interference in pharmacy health services.
Expanding Adult Crime, Adult Time and Taking a Strong Stance on Drugs and Anti-Social Behaviour Amendment Bill 2026
This bill expands Queensland's youth crime laws, overhauls the drug diversion system, and creates new police powers in designated business precincts. It adds 12 new offences to the Adult Crime, Adult Time scheme so young offenders face adult penalties for more serious crimes, replaces the three-chance Police Drug Diversion Program with a stricter one-chance framework, and allows the Minister to declare business and community precincts where police have enhanced powers to address anti-social behaviour.
Criminal Code (Serious Vilification and Hate Crimes) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2023
This bill strengthens Queensland's hate crime and vilification laws by implementing recommendations from a parliamentary inquiry. It increases penalties for serious vilification, creates aggravated offences for crimes motivated by hatred based on race, religion, sexuality, sex characteristics or gender identity, and bans the public display of prescribed hate symbols such as Nazi imagery.
Corrective Services (Emerging Technologies and Security) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2022
This bill modernises Queensland's corrective services and youth detention laws to address emerging security threats and improve emergency preparedness. It creates new criminal offences for flying drones over prisons and youth detention centres, authorises x-ray body scanners and surveillance devices, overhauls the emergency declaration framework to cover disasters and pandemics, and strengthens information sharing between corrective services and partner agencies.
Making Queensland Safer Bill 2024
This bill implements the government's 'Making Queensland Safer Plan', centred on the 'adult crime, adult time' policy. It allows courts to sentence children to the same penalties as adults for 13 serious offences including murder, manslaughter, robbery and dangerous driving. It also removes the longstanding principle that detention should be a last resort for children and makes victim impact the primary consideration in youth sentencing.
Justice and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2019
This bill makes a broad package of reforms across over 30 Acts in the Queensland justice portfolio. It modernises the coronial system, streamlines criminal proceedings, strengthens protections for vulnerable witnesses, closes gaps in the dangerous prisoners scheme, updates legal profession regulation, and clarifies court jurisdictional limits.
Criminal Code (Child Sexual Offences Reform) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2019
This bill reforms Queensland's criminal justice response to child sexual abuse, implementing key recommendations from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. It creates mandatory reporting obligations for all adults, introduces new offences for possessing child abuse objects, strengthens sentencing for child sexual offenders, and establishes a pilot scheme to help vulnerable witnesses give evidence in court.
Criminal Code (Consent and Mistake of Fact) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2020
This bill bundles several unrelated reforms: it clarifies Queensland's sexual consent laws in the Criminal Code based on Law Reform Commission recommendations, reforms the legal profession's Fidelity Guarantee Fund, strengthens alcohol-fuelled violence measures for licensed venues and nightlife areas, bans wagering inducements to protect online gamblers, and makes other miscellaneous amendments.
Child Protection (Offender Reporting and Offender Prohibition Order) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2022
This bill updates Queensland's laws for monitoring convicted child sex offenders to address modern technology-based offending. It requires offenders to report their use of anonymising software, hidden vault applications and the digital identifiers of all their devices, and gives police stronger powers to inspect those devices and enter offenders' homes to do so.
Justice and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2023
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.
Youth Justice and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2021
This bill tightens bail for serious repeat youth offenders, trials electronic ankle monitoring for 16-17 year olds in limited areas, gives police new powers to scan for knives in Gold Coast entertainment precincts, and strengthens owner onus rules for hooning offences. It responds to a small cohort of recidivist young offenders responsible for nearly half of all youth crime, recent knife murders on the Gold Coast, and ongoing community concern about dangerous driving.
Termination of Pregnancy Bill 2018
This bill decriminalises termination of pregnancy in Queensland by repealing Criminal Code provisions that made it a crime punishable by up to 14 years imprisonment. Based on 28 recommendations from the Queensland Law Reform Commission, it creates a new legal framework treating termination as a health matter rather than a criminal one, with a gestational limit of 22 weeks for termination on request and additional safeguards for later terminations.
Community Based Sentences (Interstate Transfer) Bill 2019
This bill allows adults serving community-based sentences in Queensland — such as probation, community service, or drug and alcohol treatment orders — to have their sentences formally transferred to another state or territory when they move interstate. It replaces informal arrangements that had no enforcement powers with a proper legal framework based on nationally agreed model legislation.
Criminal Justice Legislation (Sexual Violence and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2024
This bill implements the third tranche of legislative reforms recommended by the Women's Safety and Justice Taskforce, focusing on sexual violence and women and girls' experiences in Queensland's criminal justice system. It creates a new criminal offence to protect 16 and 17 year olds from sexual exploitation by adults in positions of authority, strengthens courtroom protections for victim-survivors, reforms evidence rules to make it easier to admit relevant past conduct in criminal trials, and extends non-contact orders from two to five years. The bill was passed with amendment.
Police Powers and Responsibilities and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2023
This bill makes several changes to policing and emergency services law. Its centrepiece is a major expansion of the Police Drug Diversion Program, allowing people caught with small quantities of any dangerous drug to be diverted to health-based programs instead of going to court. It also increases the maximum penalty for drug trafficking to life imprisonment, creates tougher penalties for evading police in aggravated circumstances, and introduces a standalone assault offence for attacks on fire and emergency services workers.
Penalties and Sentences (Sexual Offences) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2025
This bill reforms how courts sentence sexual offenders in Queensland and creates a new offence for impersonating government agencies. It implements four recommendations from the Queensland Sentencing Advisory Council to better recognise victim harm, restrict the use of 'good character' defences, and protect child victims aged 16-17.
Mines Legislation (Resources Safety) Amendment Bill 2018
This bill strengthens safety and health protections for workers across Queensland's coal mining, metalliferous mining, and quarrying industries. It was driven in part by the re-identification of coal workers' pneumoconiosis (black lung disease) and introduces higher penalties, new corporate accountability obligations, improved contractor management, expanded health surveillance, and stronger enforcement powers for mine inspectors.
Corrective Services and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2020
This bill strengthens anti-corruption measures in Queensland prisons following the Crime and Corruption Commission's Taskforce Flaxton report, improves the parole system based on the Queensland Parole System Review, and tightens prisoner management rules. It also establishes a permanent firearms amnesty, clarifies rules for gel blaster and replica firearm possession, and increases penalties for assaults on corrective services officers.
Tobacco and Other Smoking Products (Dismantling Illegal Trade) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2025
This bill significantly strengthens Queensland's ability to crack down on the illegal trade in tobacco, vapes and other nicotine products. It extends the time shops can be forced to close from 72 hours to three months, creates new offences for landlords who allow illegal trade on their premises, and gives Queensland Health powers to conduct covert 'test purchase' operations to catch illegal sellers.
Police Powers and Responsibilities and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2021
This bill makes a broad set of changes to Queensland's policing, corrective services and child protection laws. It expands police powers to ban people carrying knives in safe night precincts, creates tougher parole rules for the most serious murderers, strengthens the No Body No Parole framework, introduces new criminal offences for killing or seriously injuring police and corrective services animals, and updates child sex offender monitoring and blue card screening to cover additional Commonwealth offences.
Criminal Code (Decriminalising Sex Work) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2024
This bill decriminalises sex work in Queensland by repealing the Prostitution Act 1999 and removing sex-work-specific criminal offences. Based on the Queensland Law Reform Commission's 47 recommendations, it replaces the existing brothel licensing system with a framework that treats sex work like any other lawful occupation, while introducing tough new offences to protect children from exploitation and prevent coercion.
Respect at Work and Other Matters Amendment Bill 2024
This bill makes wide-ranging changes to Queensland's anti-discrimination, sentencing and judicial laws. It strengthens workplace protections against sexual harassment and discrimination, adds new grounds on which people are protected from unfair treatment, and requires employers to actively prevent discrimination. It also increases penalties for violence against workers and clarifies judicial immunity.
Youth Justice and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2019
This bill reforms Queensland's youth justice system by creating stronger bail protections for children, reducing the time young people spend in custody on remand, and banning electronic tracking devices on children. It implements the Queensland Government's Youth Justice Strategy 2019-2023 and its principle that detention should be a last resort for young people.
Health Legislation Amendment Bill 2025
This bill puts frontline health workers on hospital boards and cracks down on illegal vaping. It requires each Hospital and Health Board to include at least one doctor, nurse or allied health professional who actually works at that hospital, delivering on a 2024 election commitment. It also allows Queensland Health to immediately destroy seized vaping products instead of storing them for weeks, and lets courts make convicted sellers pay enforcement costs.
Domestic and Family Violence Protection (Combating Coercive Control) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2022
This bill strengthens Queensland's domestic and family violence laws by implementing key recommendations from the Women's Safety and Justice Taskforce. It recognises coercive control as a pattern of behaviour, modernises the stalking offence to cover technology-facilitated abuse, reforms court processes for competing protection order applications, and expands evidence rules so courts and juries better understand domestic violence dynamics. It also updates outdated sexual offence terminology and makes unrelated changes to the Coroners Act, Oaths Act, and Telecommunications Interception Act.
Tow Truck Bill 2023
This bill repeals the Tow Truck Act 1973 and replaces it with a modern regulatory framework for tow truck operations in Queensland. It introduces a new accreditation system for operators, drivers and assistants, strengthens penalties for non-compliance, and updates enforcement powers to better protect consumers, particularly motorists who are vulnerable after a vehicle incident.
Criminal Code and Other Legislation (Mason Jett Lee) Amendment Bill 2019
This bill sought to introduce mandatory minimum prison sentences for the murder of children and create a new criminal offence of 'child homicide'. Named after Mason Jett Lee, a toddler who was killed, it aimed to ensure sentencing for child deaths reflects community expectations and aligns with other Australian jurisdictions. The bill was defeated at the second reading and did not become law.
Justice Legislation (Links to Terrorist Activity) Amendment Bill 2018
This bill implements a national agreement to make it harder for people with demonstrated links to terrorism to get bail or parole in Queensland. It amends four Acts to reverse the normal presumption in favour of bail for terrorism-linked defendants, create a presumption against parole for prisoners with terrorism connections, and impose stricter conditions on children with terrorism links in youth detention.
Criminal Code and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2019
This bill strengthens Queensland's criminal law response to child homicide, following a Sentencing Advisory Council inquiry that found community expectations were not being met. It requires courts to treat a child's vulnerability as an aggravating factor in manslaughter sentencing, expands the definition of murder to include reckless indifference to human life, and increases the maximum penalty for failing to supply necessaries to dependants from 3 to 7 years.
Criminal Law (Coercive Control and Affirmative Consent) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2023
This bill makes coercive control a criminal offence in Queensland and introduces an affirmative model of consent for sexual offences. It implements recommendations from the Women's Safety and Justice Taskforce and other inquiries to strengthen protections for victim-survivors of domestic, family and sexual violence across the criminal justice system.
Fighting Antisemitism and Keeping Guns out of the Hands of Terrorists and Criminals Amendment Bill 2026
This bill responds to the December 2025 Bondi Beach terrorist attack by strengthening laws against antisemitism and hate crimes, and significantly tightening firearms controls in Queensland. It introduces new offences for hate expressions and intimidation near places of worship, dramatically increases penalties for weapons offences, bans 3D-printed firearm blueprints, restricts weapons licences to Australian citizens, and expands police powers to disrupt criminal activity.
Victims of Crime Assistance and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2023
This bill increases the financial assistance available to victims of violent crime in Queensland, with the maximum payment for primary victims rising from $75,000 to $120,000. It recognises the seriousness of domestic and family violence by boosting the special assistance payment for those victim-survivors from $1,000 to $9,000. These are the first increases to most victim assistance caps since 2009.
Electoral and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2019
This bill reforms Queensland's electoral laws to improve donation transparency, modernise voting operations, and align with four-year fixed parliamentary terms. It implements recommendations from the Crime and Corruption Commission's Operation Belcarra inquiry into local government corruption risks and an independent review of the 2016 elections.
Weapons and Other Legislation (Firearms Offences) Amendment Bill 2019
This bill proposed to crack down on firearms crime by introducing Firearm Prohibition Orders, creating new offences for shooting at buildings and possessing 3D gun blueprints, and significantly increasing penalties for weapons offences. It was a private member's bill introduced by Trevor Watts MP and lapsed at the end of the 56th Parliament without becoming law.
Making Queensland Safer (Adult Crime, Adult Time) Amendment Bill 2025
This bill expands Queensland's 'Adult Crime, Adult Time' policy by adding 20 serious offences to the list of crimes for which young offenders can be sentenced as adults. It is part of the Government's Making Queensland Safer Plan and follows advice from an Expert Legal Panel. The bill also improves victim notification arrangements.