New Qld laws to target stalking, abuse and other offences
The Prime Minister announced on Sunday that 12 new offenses would be added to the Crisafulli government’s “adult crime, adult time” laws when the Queensland parliament meets this week.
With the addition of 12 new crimes, the total number will increase to 45.
“This is the third round of changes and we have a long way to go in terms of where we want to see the state in terms of safety and how we want to get this state back to people who want to feel safe, be safe and know their children are safe,” David Crisafulli said.
The Making Queensland Safer Act will include: assault causing bodily harm; conspiracy to murder; unlawful stalking, intimidation, harassment or abuse; rebel; exploitation of mentally disabled people; Indecent treatment of a child under 16 years of age; suffocation, suffocation, or suffocation in a domestic environment; maiming with intent to commit a criminal offence; stunning with intent to commit a criminal offense; deliberately endangering the safety of a vehicle occupant; assisting suicide; and administering poison with intent to cause harm.
Youth Justice Minister Laura Gerber acknowledged that some new offenses, such as assisting suicide and conspiracy to commit murder, were not common in youth offending.
“The metric is: Are these criminals causing serious harm to society?” he said.
“We are acting on the advice of the expert legal panel, which took into account the extent of harm caused by these offenders and recommended that these charges be included as an adult offence, adult term.”
Gerber said the panel’s recommendations will eventually be made public through the parliamentary committee process.
The panel consisted of five members – chair April Freeman, KC, barrister Douglas Wilson, victims’ rights activist Lyndy Atkinson, former Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service chief executive Randal Ross and retired chief detective Robert Weir – and has now been disbanded.
But that doesn’t mean the end of expanding adult crimes and adult statutes of limitations, Gerber said.
“We will not step back,” he said. “If further changes are needed, we will make them.”
An opposition spokesman said Labor would consider the bill “calmly and systematically” once it is introduced.
“The expert legal panel can finally answer why certain offenses were recommended when they appear before the committee,” he said.
Parliament was also expected to pass controversial anti-Semitism laws that have drawn some criticism in terms of freedom of expression, which Crisafulli described on Sunday as “the best law in the country”.
The laws will allow parliament to restrict the use of certain expressions; The first of these is “from river to sea” and “globalizing the intifada”.
While it would not be banned as such, it would be an offense to use them to “threaten, harass or cause offence”.
Attorney General Deb Frecklington said she was confident the law would not impede freedom of expression.
“Our courts are very knowledgeable and responsible in determining whether the intended expression is intended to threaten, harass or offend, and also be well aware that it represents extreme prejudice,” he said.
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