Source : the age
Queensland barristers have urged the state government to pause its proposed bail crackdown until a High Court challenge against similar elements of Northern Territory laws is decided.
The Queensland Bar Association’s submission is one of more than 250 lodged for committee consideration of the Crisafulli LNP’s controversial “breach bail, go to jail” laws introduced last month.
Several key organisations have raised concerns about the bill, its justification, the consequences of increased pressure on youth detention, prisons and police watchhouses, and further delays to court processes.
Aimed at making it harder for people charged with specific offences while on bail to be released into the community, a mandatory 12-month minimum jail sentence will also apply to those guilty of the new offence.
The government has been gradually revealing parts of the proposed laws since it was first raised by LNP candidate – and now MP – for the Townsville seat of Hinchinbrook, Wade Chiesa, in November’s byelection.
Public sentiment of the government’s hardline crime response has soured across the past year, despite the LNP’s suggestions its election promises to fix a crime crisis are starting to work.
ABS data has shown victim numbers, a metric to which Premier David Crisafulli has tied his leadership, were already falling across the election year – and fell further across 2025.
Bar association president Cate Heyworth-Smith KC, writing in the group’s submission to the parliamentary committee considering the bill, raised a series of concerns about the removal of judicial discretion and rules against double jeopardy.
Heyworth-Smith also said that the laws would provide less incentive for people to plead guilty, which would lead to more trials and more delays across the entire court system, and overcrowding issues in the detention system which would be “difficult to correct once they have begun”.
While the government has insisted the laws are about deterring and punishing serious repeat offenders, she also laid out a hypothetical situation where a P-plate driver given bail for drink-driving was then caught up in the new bail regime for being only a passenger in a stolen car.
“The resulting punishment would be seriously disproportionate to the offending behaviour,” Heyworth-Smith wrote.
“These provisions do not merely create a risk of unjust outcomes, they ensure that unjust outcomes will occur.”
The association president also raised the High Court challenge against Northern Territory bail laws she said would appear to “transpose directly” to the new tougher bail test, a legal argument for which “the answer is not obvious, and the committee should not be told otherwise”.
“The Association submits that the question is a real one, as is demonstrated by the referral of the matter to the Full Court of the High Court of Australia, and that the constitutional validity of such provisions will be illuminated by the decision,” Heyworth-Smith wrote.
“The Association submits that the Committee should not report on the Bill before the High Court has delivered judgment.”
Other submissions from the Crime and Corruption Commission warn about the risk of increased police misconduct through the treatment of people in overcrowded facilities, which the agency would actively monitor, and human rights overrides appeared to be inconsistent with the law.
The Australian Workers Union and Queensland Police Union raised fears the laws would increase pressure on already crowded youth detention centres. The Queensland Law Society and National Commission for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Young People also urged the bill be rejected.
The Voice for Victims group said while supporting the government’s objective of strengthening community safety, success for victims was “measured by whether reforms reduce repeat offending”.
Several submitters called for a review of the laws after a set period of time, or urged the release of government modelling around impacts on jails and watchhouses.
The Queensland Human Rights Commission, in its first major foray into parliamentary process under leader Debbie Platz, called for the removal of mandatory minimum sentences and the new bail test from the bill.
“While all offending is serious, the data does not indicate this form of offending is so prevalent, or increasing at such a rate, that it warrants an emergency response that overrides human rights,” she said.
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Matt Dennien is a reporter at Brisbane Times covering state politics, parliament and the public sector. He has previously worked for newspapers in Tasmania and Brisbane community radio station 4ZZZ. Contact him securely on Signal @mattdennien.15Connect via email.
