Criminal Justice — News — Queensland Council for Civil Liberties

Flag Desecration Bill (QLD)

Flag burning is not an issue at large in our country. Instead, the context it is currently documented in is a very narrow one – by First Nations people at Australia Day protests. Viewed in this context, the act of flag burning takes on immediate meaning. When an Indigenous person burns the flag, they say they do not believe that Britain should have colonised their land, that the nation of Australia exists as a colonial construct validated only by the invalid doctrine of terra nullius and the systematic oppression it effected. That is a specific political viewpoint that cannot be suppressed validly

Submission on proposed "Castle" law

The assumption innate in the Bill is that allowing people to use deadly force to protect themselves and their dwelling will improve community safety and deter crime. However, outcomes of similar legislation in the USA show across the board that increasing legislative permissiveness of deadly force correlates with increased violent crime, unnecessary death, institutional racism, and no crime deterrence.

E-Bike Law raises Civil Liberties concerns

“Children, especially the teenagers that are the Bill’s primary subject, are to the relevant level capable of making their own decisions, and where a parent has not been proven to have incited or condoned a child’s misbehaviour, the child should be held responsible for it alone.”

Electoral Laws (Restoring Electoral Fairness) Amendment Bill 2025

The Council has, at all times, been opposed to the disenfranchisement of prisoners. The concept of the civil dead no longer has any place in our law. Prisoners are human beings and ought to be treated with dignity. They are in prison as punishment not for punishment.

Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism Bill 2026

The Bill will fundamentally rework and expand hugely hate speech laws as well as having the 2026 equivalent of the 1950s ban of the Communist party which was struck down by the High Court. It is simply performative politics.

JUVENILE JUSTICE IN QLD ‘ADULT CRIME, ADULT TIME’ IS A RHYMING NON SEQUITUR” by Matt Foley

"It is unjust to treat equals unequally; it is equally unjust to treat unequals equally." – Aristotle The “Adult Crime, Adult Time” legislation is unjust as it treats children equally to adults with whom children are unequal.

Review of the Definition of a “Terrorist Act"

Our central submission is that the current definition should not be expanded. Terrorism should not be seen as a ‘catch-all’ term for serious crimes. The criminal law, with its established principles of criminal justice and procedure, already accommodate crimes which may constitute terrorism. Any further extension of the definition of terrorism would intervene in this system. It would enlarge the application of a wide set of powers that are both repugnant to civil liberties and inconsistent with these established principles of criminal justice

Joint CCLs submission on ASIO Questioning warrants

In democratic polities, intelligence organisations have been permitted to operate in secret and without the public accountability mechanisms that apply to police because they neither produce evidence, nor exercise coercive powers. Division 3 departs from this principle. It empowers ASIO, at the request of a cabinet minister, to force a legally innocent person to answer questions

Queensland Council for Civil Liberties9 October 2025Terrorism, ASIO, Criminal Justice

QCCL opposes Public Sex Offender Register

The Council accepts that it is a fundamental human right of all persons particularly children to be protected from sexual assault. However, proposals such as Daniel’s law are most likely to have the opposite effect and do harm to innocent people such as victims”, says QCCL President Michael Cope

Review of the Parole Board.

In our submission no changes should be made to the rights of victims which undermine the rehabilitation of the prisoners. The only consequence of that would be to create more victims, which surely is not the intention of the review let alone the government.

QCCL Opposes Change to Public Drunkenness Law

“Inconvenience or offence, as opposed to violence, experienced by some people cannot justify a law which needlessly exposes some of the most disadvantaged people in our community to the loss of liberty and the heightened risk of serious injury or death” said Mr Cope

Law Reform Commisssion Review of Criminal Defences

The current project by the Commission ‘ticks all the boxes’ in relation to the primary principles guiding Law Reform Commissions namely independence, transparency, accessibility and coherence.

QCCL opposes Public Sex Offender Register

The likely result of these laws is that responsibility for the commission of these crimes will be passed on to parents and other relatives who didn’t check the register or didn’t take some hypothetical steps rather than responsibility clearly and solely lying with the offender.

Crime And Corruption (Restoring Reporting Powers) Amendment Bill

It is submitted that in relation to the Commission making a public statement both in relation to the corruption assessment stage and at the conclusion of the Commission’s investigations, the Bill should be amended to make it clear that the provision contained within Section 65A(4)(g) namely “whether the statement may unreasonably damage the person’s health, safety or wellbeing or privacy or reputation” should be given significant weight by the Commission in deciding whether to issue a public statement.

CAMERA DETECTED ENFORCEMENT FOR SEATBELT OFFENCES

It is our position that reverse onus offences are never justified, as the burden of proof should always be borne by the State, with its superior powers and resources. However, since this is unlikely to be accepted, we submit that if members of the public must have the burden of proving their innocence, then the evidentiary standard must be possible for a private citizen to feasibly challenge, and judges must have sufficient discretion to ensure a fair trial. The scheme as currently implemented satisfies neither of these criteria.

Qccl condemns misguided Youth Justice Changes

Queenslanders rightly expect that young people entering the justice system, are not further encouraged to commit crime. Without appropriate rehabilitation measures, that may well happen.”

Submission on Making Queensland Safer Bill

What is truly extraordinary is that the Attorney, an experienced lawyer, has made a clear admission of the injustices that will be perpetrated in the future with no concerns for consequent human harm. That harm will flow not only to the incarcerated offenders but their later victims.

Pretrial Publication Of Criminal History - Complaint

In making this complaint it is recognised that the event which caused the death of the person driving the car that was hit by the accused person is a significantly and deeply tragic event. It is because of the understandable public outrage that follows such an event that the pretrial publicity rule forbidding publication of an accused’s criminal history exists.

Notes for remarks by President Michael Cope to The Persecution of the Truth 2 - David McBride held 8 November 2024

We cannot permit a system to stand which allows people to be sent to jail for years for exposing killings and other gross violations of human rights.

Doxing Laws need to be Withdrawn

“These laws have clearly been rushed and should be withdrawn until there is further and more substantial consultation” says President Michael Cope

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