Committee Details

Committee’s report

The committee tabled Report No. 15, 57^th Parliament – Queensland Community Safety Bill 2024, on 2 August 2024. The Legislative Assembly passed the Bill with amendment on 22 August 2024.

About the Bill 

On 1 May 2024, Hon Mark Ryan MP, Minister for Police and Community Safety, introduced the Queensland Community Safety Bill 2024 into the Queensland Parliament.  The Bill was referred to the Community Safety and Legal Affairs Committee for detailed consideration.   The committee was due to report on 14 June 2024, however, on 23 May 2024, the Committee of the Legislative Assembly extended the reporting date to Friday 2 August 2024. 

View: Bill 
View: Explanatory Notes 
View: Explanatory Speech
View: Statement of compatibility 

The Bill proposes to:

• enable certain persons and the media to be present at some Childrens Court criminal proceedings
• expand and extend the trial of hand held scanners in public places
• introduce a firearms prohibition order scheme in Queensland
• introduce a verification process for purchasing small arms ammunition
• reform the ‘fit and proper person’ test in the Weapons Act 1990 by expanding the types of serious offending captured, introducing a new category of disqualified persons, and, in certain circumstances, extending the exclusionary period to 10 years
• increase the maximum penalty for possessing a knife in a public place or school
• introduce a framework for removal of online content depicting conduct that constitutes a prescribed offence, create an offence for publishing such material, and increase the maximum penalties for a range of related offences
• increase the maximum penalty for dangerous operation of a vehicle causing death or grievous bodily harm, and insert a new circumstance of aggravation for dangerous operation of a vehicle where the offender was evading police and causes the death of, or grievous bodily harm to, another person
• create offences for damaging an emergency vehicle when operating a motor vehicle, and driving a motor vehicle in a way that could injure or endanger the safety of a police officer
• increase the maximum penalties for: wilful damage to property where the property is an emergency vehicle, unlawful use or possession of emergency vehicles, and unlawful entry of an emergency vehicle for committing an indictable offence
• amend definitions in the Domestic and Family Violence Protection Act 2012 to remove parent-minor child relationships from domestic and family violence responses, allowing them to be dealt with under child harm or youth justice provisions
• enable a court hearing an appeal in a family and domestic violence matter to make a temporary protection order to protect the victim-survivor
• extend the maximum period before a police protection notice must be first mentioned in court
• allow for a trial of arrangements for corrective services officers to serve prescribed domestic and family violence documents on prisoners in corrective facilities in prescribed circumstances
• expand the options available to police officers to effect document service, including electronically in certain circumstances
• enable electronic signatures to be affixed to all documents executed by police officers
• allow the Police Minister to subdelegate compensation powers to the Commissioner of Police
• harmonise the reporting dates for several annual reports under the Police Powers and Responsibilities Act 2000 and the Public Safety Preservation Act 1986
• extend the offence of ‘unlawful conduct associated with commission of racing, burn out or other hooning offence’ to include a person who merely spectated a hooning activity without reasonable excuse
• provide police officers with the option of issuing penalty infringement notices for low-level drink driving offences in certain circumstances
• increase the maximum fine amount that can be imposed by a court for drink driving offences and increase the minimum driver licence disqualification that a court must impose for certain drink driving offences
• attach a licence disqualification of 2 months to a penalty infringement notice
• reword youth justice principle 18 to state a child should be detained in custody, where necessary, including to ensure community safety, where other non-custodial measures of prevention and intervention would not be sufficient, and for no longer than necessary to meet the purpose of detention
• increase the number of participants in the electronic monitoring trial by expanding the list of prescribed indictable offences and expanding the criteria for electronic monitoring to include children who have been charged with a prescribed indictable offence in the preceding 12 months
• provide that consideration of risks associated with granting bail, and any conditions that may mitigate those risks, should occur in the one process, prior to a decision to release the child
• amend the arrangements for the transfer of remanded detainees over 18 years old, creating a presumption of prompt transfer
• enable temporary transfers from watchhouses to youth detention centres to facilitate participation in programs and physical exercise at youth detention centres
• regulate the use of cameras and smart phones in youth detention centres
• enable the recording of detainees’ phone calls in certain circumstances
• insert a reference to disability services into the youth justice principles to highlight that a child’s disability needs must be met while they are in detention
• remove any doubt that participation in a program or engagement in a service by a detainee while remanded in custody cannot be used in evidence in any civil, criminal or administrative proceedings relating to the offence for which the child has been remanded in custody.

For more in-depth information on the above, please refer to the explanatory notes for the Bill.

Further information

Further information including written briefings, correspondence, response to submissions, transcripts and answers to questions taken on notice can be accessed under the Related Publications tab.

Call for submissions

Submissions closed on Thursday 16 May 2024. Submissions can be accessed under the “View Submissions” tab above.

Timeline