Childrens Court
OrganisationReferenced in 9 bills
Child Protection and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2020
This bill clarifies that adoption is an option for achieving permanent homes for children in out-of-home care, responding to coronial recommendations following the death of Mason Jet Lee. It requires case plan reviews after two years for children under the chief executive's long-term guardianship, to ensure better permanency options are actively considered.
Making Queensland Safer Bill 2024
This bill implements the Government's 'adult crime, adult time' policy, allowing children who commit serious offences to receive the same sentences as adults, including mandatory life imprisonment for murder. It removes the principle that detention should be a last resort for young offenders and requires courts to give primary consideration to victims when sentencing. The changes also open up Childrens Court proceedings to victims and media.
Criminal Code (Child Sexual Offences Reform) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2019
This bill implements recommendations from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. It creates new offences requiring adults to report child sexual abuse to police (including information from religious confession), makes it a crime to fail to protect children in institutional settings, criminalises child-like sex dolls, and enables prosecution of historical abuse that was previously time-barred.
Strengthening Community Safety Bill 2023
This bill toughens Queensland's response to youth crime, particularly car theft and serious repeat offending. It increases penalties for vehicle crimes, makes bail breaches a criminal offence for children, and allows courts to declare young people 'serious repeat offenders' - shifting the focus from rehabilitation to community protection for this group.
Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Bill 2022
This bill modernises Queensland's birth, death and marriage registration system with significant reforms for trans and gender diverse people. It removes the requirement for surgery to change sex on a birth certificate, instead allowing people 16 and over to self-declare their sex with a supporting statement. It also recognises contemporary family structures by allowing same-sex parents to both be recorded as 'mother' or both as 'father'.
Meriba Omasker Kaziw Kazipa (Torres Strait Islander Traditional Child Rearing Practice) Bill 2020
This bill creates Australia's first legal framework to recognise Torres Strait Islander traditional child rearing practice (Ailan Kastom), where children are raised by cultural parents within extended family networks. It allows families to apply for cultural recognition orders that transfer legal parentage from birth parents to cultural parents, reflected on new birth certificates.
Child Protection Reform and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2021
This bill reforms Queensland's child protection laws to give children in care stronger rights and a greater voice in decisions affecting them. It also improves screening of carers and people working with children by enabling domestic violence information sharing and connecting Queensland to a national database that tracks people barred from working with children in other states.
Domestic and Family Violence Protection (Combating Coercive Control) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2022
This bill implements the Women's Safety and Justice Taskforce's recommendations to combat coercive control in domestic and family violence situations. It modernises stalking laws to cover technology-facilitated abuse, requires courts to identify the person most in need of protection in disputed cases, and improves how evidence of domestic violence patterns is recognised in criminal proceedings.
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 allows courts to impose adult maximum penalties, including life imprisonment with a 15-year mandatory minimum non-parole period, on young people convicted of offences including rape, torture, kidnapping, arson, and drug trafficking.