Queensland residents draws to the attention of the House an apparent legal loophole which requires urgent action.  Currently, it appears that charges of wilful damage in a cemetery can be dismissed on the basis that the Crown has not proved that the defendants did not have the property owners' permission to inflict damage.  In the case of historic graves, which may be 150 years old, it can be almost impossible to trace the present holders or, indeed, those buried may have no descendants.  The onus of proving that damage is unauthorised must be removed from prosecutors in this instance and all wilful damage in cemeteries should be considered unauthorised.

Your petitioners therefore request the House to enact legislation to make wilful damage in a cemetery or other burial ground a serious offence, without the need for the Crown to prove that such damage is unauthorised.