False

About the Bill

On 13 November 2018, the Hon. Yvette D’Ath MP, Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, introduced the Justice Legislation (Links to Terrorist Activity) Amendment Bill 2018.  The Bill was referred to the Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee for detailed consideration. 

According to the Explanatory Notes:

The Bill amends the Bail Act 1980, the Corrective Services Act 2006, the Penalties and Sentences Act 1992 and the Youth Justice Act 1992 to give effect to the COAG commitment in Queensland.

The COAG commitment is the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) agreeing that ‘there will be a presumption that neither bail nor parole will be granted to those persons who have demonstrated support for, or have links to, terrorist activity’.

On 5 October 2017 COAG further agreed that implementation of the COAG commitment would be underpinned by agreed principles recognising the ongoing importance of national consistency in counter-terrorism legislation and responses more broadly.

The Bill will implement the COAG commitment in Queensland by reversing the statutory presumption in favour of bail for any adult or child offender who has previously been convicted of a terrorism offence or who is, or has been, subject to a control order under the Commonwealth Criminal Code. In these circumstances, the power to grant bail will be limited to a court and require an offender to satisfy the court that there are exceptional circumstances to justify granting bail.

Committee's Report

The committee tabled Report No. 30, 56th Parliament - Justice Legislation (Links to Terrorist Activity) Amendment Bill 2018 on 7 March 2019.

Related information

To subscribe to the committee mailing list, please click here.

Timeline