Queensland Law Society reiterated its strong opposition to Adult Crime Adult Time law reforms, at a public hearing at Parliament House in Brisbane yesterday.
QLS Vice President Peter Jolly told the State Government’s Justice, Integrity and Community Safety Committee that the laws “fundamentally undermined the integrity of the Criminal Code”, when he represented the Society with QLS Children’s Law Committee Chair Damian Bartholomew and QLS Criminal Law Committee Chair Kristy Bell.
“The new laws, and any further amendments, not only disrupt established legal principles but also threaten to overlook the nuanced and complex nature of juvenile offending, particularly in the context of sexual offences,” Peter said in addressing the Making Queensland Safer (Adult Crime, Adult Time) Amendment Bill 2025.
“As such, it is important to critically evaluate these amendments and consider the unique vulnerabilities and circumstances intrinsic to cases involving children.”
Introduced on 1 April, the Bill will amend Section 175A of the Youth Justice Act 1992 (Qld) (YJA) to introduce adult penalties for an additional 20 criminal offences under the Criminal Code Act 1899 (Qld) and the Drugs Misuse Act 1986 (Qld).
These offences include threatening violence, attempt to murder, rape, sexual assault, attempted robbery, arson, trafficking in dangerous drugs, and endangering police officer when driving a motor vehicle.
The first tranche of the Making Queensland Safer Laws was passed in December last year, making young offenders liable to the same maximum, minimum and mandatory penalties as adults for 13 specific offences.
The latest Bill was said to have followed advice from an Expert Legal Panel, but the panel’s report has not been made public.
Peter said QLS stood with fellow Queenslanders, peak bodies and government bodies to advocate for measures that would address the underlying causes of crime and provide long-term, sustainable measures to promote community safety.
“Increasing the custodial sentence for a child who commits a serious offence will not address the cause of the community’s concerns about youth crime,” he said.
“While the Society appreciates protection of the community is of vital importance, youth offending is better addressed by investing in prevention and early intervention initiatives to provide a systemic response to address the drivers of crime.
“Criminalising these children under the same framework as adults fails to appropriately account for their unique circumstances and the need for tailored interventions.
“Instead of punitive, mandatory measures, a focus on rehabilitation and support is crucial to address the root cause of their behaviour and prevent reoffending.”
Maiwar MP Michael Berkman pointed to the potential for children to receive harsher sentences than adults for the same offences, and asked what QLS thought of punishment and denunciation being the primary purposes of the Bill.
Damian said victims’ views should be properly recognised and considered.
“One of the very core values from the Society is also recognition that what we want to do is ensure that we keep the community safe not just this week, and not just this month, but for the future, in the long term as well as the short term, and that’s why we’re interested in what the evidence base would tell us about what keeps the community safe,” he said.
“What we do know is that long periods of incarceration are more likely to lead to creating re-offenders.”
Nicklin MP Martin Hunt suggested the punitive aim of the Bill addressed the issue of victims who felt they had not received justice from the system, via “light sentences” to offenders.
Damian pointed to the effectiveness of restorative justice processes encapsulated in the YJA.
“One of the concerns that the Law Society has is that the widening of the significant offences under Section 175A reduces the capacity of the court to be able to impose those restorative justice orders for all of the offences that are considered to be significant offences under 175A,” he said.
The committee is due to table its report on Friday, 16 May 2025.
Read the QLS submission here.
Share this article