Committee Details

Committee’s report

The committee tabled its Report No. 1 - Making Queensland Safer Bill 2024 on 6 December 2024. 

The report will be debated in the Legislative Assembly in due course. 

View: Report
View: Executive Summary

About the INQUIRY 

On 28 November 2024 Premier and Minister for Veterans introduced the Making Queensland Safer Bill 2024 into the Queensland Parliament. The Bill was referred to the Justice, Integrity and Community Safety Committee for detailed consideration.

View: Explanatory speech
View: Bill 
View: Explanatory Notes 
View: Statement of compatibility
View: Statement about exceptional circumstances

The Making Queensland Safer Bill 2024 will amend the Youth Justice Act 1992 to:

• introduce ‘adult crime, adult time’;
• remove the principle of detention as a last resort and that a non-custodial order is better than detention in promoting a child’s ability to reintegrate into the community;
• promote the consideration of the impacts of offending on victims in the Charter of Youth Justice Principles and when sentencing a child;
• ensure a child’s criminal history reflects their full history;
• enable a person’s child criminal history to be admitted when sentenced as an adult;
• default to an ‘opt out’ mechanism for victims on the victim information register; and
• alter the process relating to the transfer of 18-year-old detainees from youth detention centres to adult correctional centres.

The Bill will also amend the Childrens Court Act 1992 to:

• ensure the victim or a member of the victim’s family can be present during criminal proceedings; and
• enable the media to be present during criminal proceedings by omitting the ability of a court to make an exclusion order under section 20(2).

Further information

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

submissions

Submissions closed Tuesday 3 December 2024. Submissions can be viewed under the “View Submissions” tab.

PUBLIC PROCEEDINGS

The committee held a public hearing and a public briefing (by officers of the Department of Justice and the Department of Youth Justice and Victim Support) in Brisbane on Monday, 2 December 2024. 

A public hearing was also held in Townsville on Tuesday, 3 December 2024. 

See timeline below for further information.

Timeline