Legal Affairs and Safety Committee
OrganisationReferenced in 6 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 the Sexual Violence Review Board to examine systemic problems in how sexual offences are reported, investigated and prosecuted. The bill transfers the Charter of Victims' Rights from the Victims of Crime Assistance Act 2009 and gives the Commissioner power to handle complaints when victims' rights are breached.
Criminal Code (Serious Vilification and Hate Crimes) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2023
This bill strengthens Queensland's hate crime laws by creating higher penalties for offences motivated by hatred based on race, religion, sexuality, sex characteristics or gender identity. It also bans the public display of hate symbols like Nazi imagery, and makes it easier to prosecute serious vilification offences. The bill implements recommendations from the Legal Affairs and Safety Committee's inquiry into serious vilification and hate crimes.
Assisted Reproductive Technology Bill 2024
This bill creates Queensland's first laws regulating fertility clinics and assisted reproductive technology services. It introduces a licensing scheme for ART providers, establishes a central register of donor conception information, and gives donor-conceived people the right to find out who their biological donor is from age 16.
Respect at Work and Other Matters Amendment Bill 2024
This bill makes major reforms to Queensland's anti-discrimination laws, implementing recommendations from the national Respect@Work inquiry, the QHRC's Building Belonging review, and parliamentary committee reports on vilification. It also strengthens sentencing for workplace violence, clarifies judicial immunity, and gives magistrates access to parental leave.
Working with Children (Risk Management and Screening) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2024
This bill overhauls Queensland's blue card (Working with Children Check) system. It introduces a new risk-based decision-making framework replacing the current 'best interests' test, expands the types of work and businesses that require blue cards, simplifies the disqualification process, removes blue card requirements for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander kinship carers, and improves information sharing between agencies.
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.