Tranche two of Adult Crime, Adult Time offences were introduced in last week’s Queensland Parliamentary Sitting from 1 to 3 April 2025.
Bills introduced
The following Bills were introduced into the Legislative Assembly:
- Making Queensland Safer (Adult Crime, Adult Time) Amendment Bill 2025
- Police Powers and Responsibilities (Making Jack’s Law Permanent) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2025
- Corrective Services (Parole Board) Amendment Bill 2025
Making Queensland Safer (Adult Crime, Adult Time) Amendment Bill 2025
On 1 April 2025, the Premier and Minister for Veterans introduced the Making Queensland Safer (Adult Crime, Adult Time) Amendment Bill 2025 (Bill) into the Queensland Parliament. The Bill was referred to the Justice, Integrity and Community Safety Committee for detailed consideration.
The Bill will amend section 175A of the Youth Justice Act 1992 (YJ Act) to introduce ‘adult crime, adult time’ for an additional 20 criminal offences under the Criminal Code and Drugs Misuse Act 1986 including offences such as:
- Attempted murder
- Threatening violence
- Torture
- Rape
- Kidnapping
- Arson
- Trafficking in dangerous drugs.
The Bill also contains additional technical amendments to the YJ Act to allow for people automatically registered on the victims’ register to ‘opt out’ of receiving information directly regarding an offender’s movements and to remove a reference to a repealed section of the Police Powers and Responsibilities Act 2000.
The Bill amends the:
- Youth Justice Act 1992.
Useful resources:
The Bill was referred to the Justice Integrity and Community Safety Committee for inquiry. Submissions to the inquiry will close on 16 April 2025 and a public hearing is scheduled to be held on 28 April 2025. For further details regarding the inquiry process, visit the committee’s website here.
Read more about the Bill on QLS Proctor.
Police Powers and Responsibilities (Making Jack’s Law Permanent) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2025
On 2 April 2025, the Police Powers and Responsibilities (Making Jack’s Law Permanent) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2025 (the Bill)was introduced into Queensland Parliament.
The Bill proposes to expand the existing Jack’s Law provisions which currently allow police officers to use a handheld scanner to detect knives or other weapons in certain places.
In particular, the Bill proposes to:
- Make Jack’s Law permanent by removing the current sunset clause which schedules its expiry on 30 October 2026
- Allow a police officer to use a handheld scanner in a ‘relevant place’ without the need to obtain an authority to do so from a senior officer
- Expand the application of Jack’s Law to allow a police officer to use a handheld scanner in public places, which are not ‘relevant places’, provided they first obtain authority to do so from a senior officer
- Improve policing efficiencies by making amendments to the legislative framework provided in the Police Powers and Responsibilities Act 2000.
The Bill also amends:
- The Terrorism (Preventative Detention) Act 2005 to extend the operation period from 16 December 2025 to 16 December 2040
- The Marine Rescue Queensland Act 2024 to clarify that Marine Rescue Queensland is a charitable institution in relation to the receiving of a gift, donation, bequest or legacy.
- The State Emergency Service Act 2024 to confirm that any previous appointment of a person as a State Emergency Service (SES) member is valid.
Useful resources:
The Bill was referred to the Justice Integrity and Community Safety Committee for inquiry. Submissions to the inquiry will close on 15 April 2025 and a public hearing is scheduled to be held on 30 April 2025. For further details regarding the inquiry process, visit the committee’s website here.
Corrective Services (Parole Board) Amendment Bill 2025
On 3 April 2025, the Corrective Services (Parole Board) Amendment Bill 2025 (the Bill) was introduced into Queensland Parliament.
The Bill’s stated objective is to ensure the Parole Board Queensland can make decisions that maintain community safety.
The explanatory notes state that the Bill empowers the Board with the authority to review all decisions made by a prescribed board member after a request for immediate suspension from QCS, including where a prescribed board member decides not to suspend parole.
The Bill also purports to validate decisions made by the Board because of this community safety practice in the past.
Useful resources:
The Bill was referred to the Governance, Energy and Finance Committee for inquiry. Submissions to the inquiry will close on 17 April 2025 and a public hearing is scheduled to be held on 30 April 2025. For further details regarding the inquiry process, visit the committee’s website here.
Legislation passed this Parliament
Youth Justice (Monitoring Devices) Amendment Bill 2025
On 20 February 2025, the Youth Justice (Monitoring Devices) Amendment Bill 2025 was introduced and referred to the Justice, Integrity and Community Safety Committee.
The Bill was passed on 2 April 2025.
The Bill’s purpose is to extend the electronic monitoring trial period by one year, to allow time for a comprehensive review to be completed to inform government decisions about electronic monitoring for child offenders.
Section 52AA of the Youth Justice Act 1992 (the YJ Act) allows a court, in certain circumstances, to impose on a grant of bail to a child who is at least 15 years, and whose offending history meets certain criteria, a condition that the child must wear a monitoring device while released on bail. The criteria were designed to target serious repeat offenders.
Section 52AA was introduced in 2021 to facilitate a trial of electronic monitoring as a bail condition and included a two-year sunset clause. A 2022 review found the initial trial failed to confirm the overall effectiveness of electronic monitoring in deterring offending behaviour, among other things, due to the low numbers of children ordered on a monitoring device, and that there was a need for further research with a larger sample size.
The Strengthening Community Safety Act 2023 kept electronic monitoring as a trial, expanded the trial to include 15-year-olds and extended the trial a further two years to 30 April 2025. The Youth Justice (Monitoring Device Conditions) Amendment Regulation 2023 added three new trial sites, and the Youth Justice (Monitoring Device Conditions) Amendment Regulation 2024 added a further five sites commencing 28 August 2024.
Useful resources:
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2024
On 12 December 2024, the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2024 into the Queensland Parliament. The Bill was referred to the Health, Environment and Innovation Committee (committee) for detailed consideration.
The Bill was passed on 3 April 2025.
The Bill amends the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (National Law). Australian Health Ministers agreed in July 2024 to amend the National Law to improve public protection and public confidence in the safety of services provided by registered health practitioners. The objectives of the amendments are to:
- Protect public safety by establishing a nationally consistent process for practitioners to regain registration after their registration has been cancelled, or they have been disqualified from registration, by a tribunal – cancelled and disqualified practitioners will be required to obtain a reinstatement order from a responsible tribunal before applying to a National Board for re-registration
- Increase transparency for the public about disciplinary action against health practitioners who have been found by a tribunal to have engaged in serious sexual misconduct – National Boards will be required to permanently publish additional information on the national public registers
- Strengthen protections for notifiers (complainants) against reprisals or other detriment, threats and intimidation, and clarify consumer protections in relation to nondisclosure agreements about the health, conduct or performance of health practitioners.
Useful resources:
Subordinate legislation
Subordinate Queensland Legislation notified in 2025 is available online.
Queensland Government Gazette
The Queensland Government Gazettes for 2025 are available online.
Parliamentary sitting dates
As indicated on the parliamentary website, the Queensland Parliament is currently scheduled to next sit from 29 April 2025 to 1 May 2025.
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