“These laws have clearly been rushed and should be withdrawn until there is further and more substantial consultation” says President Michael Cope
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“Mr Crisafulli should tell Queenslanders what he is going to do to remedy the serious failure to rehabilitate young offenders in Queensland juvenile jails and what he is going to do to address the multiple problems in juvenile justice as outlined in Mr Worrall’s Report”, Mr O’Gorman said.
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Any set of rights is pretty useless if you do not have an environment in which you can enjoy them. To that end, we do support the inclusion in the Act of a right to a healthy environment
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The proposal that ‘associates’ can have a Firearm Protection Order made against them simply because the associate ‘knows’ a recognised offender is objectionable because of the width of the provision and the effect that an FPO can have on that associate’s ability to hold rural employment.
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There are new and draconian powers of warrantless stop and search once a person is the subject of a Firearms Protection Order
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We are particularly troubled by the objectives apparently underpinning the legislation, including exclusion of entire nations from migration to Australia, further criminalisation and exposure to imprisonment and detention of people seeking safety in Australia, and circumvention of the impact of a prospective High Court decision regarding unlawful administrative detention.
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The Premier is no better than previous LNP Premier Campbell Newman when he attacks Judges for cheap political gain in order to deal with the current law and order public stoush.
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“The Premier’s suggestion that Magistrates’ behaviour should be changed when he full well knows it is his Government’s policy as reflected in Queensland’s Youth Justice Act that the law is as pronounced by Magistrate Power reflects the Premier’s weak and unprincipled repetitive attacks on Queensland’s Judiciary”, Mr O’Gorman said
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Most persistent offenders acquire a criminal record, so one option is to increase the rate at which we imprison recidivist juvenile offenders. Even the most optimistic research to date suggests that incapacitation is not a very cost-effective way of reducing juvenile crime. The money we spend incarcerating juvenile offenders would, in many circumstances, be better spent treating or trying to rehabilitate them. There is good evidence that treatment for drug dependence is an effective way of reducing re-offending. There is also good evidence, despite earlier suggestions to the contrary, that it is possible to rehabilitate re-offenders using methods such as conferencing, cognitive behavioural therapy or training in basic life skills.
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If the Parole Board is being described as broken for victims’ families it is even more broken for prisoners who have done all required rehabilitation programs but who languish in jail often for many months after their parole eligibility dates because of prisoners being unable to obtain parole accommodation.
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The rule against double jeopardy is not a rule designed to protect the guilty but to protect the innocent.
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QCCL President Michael Cope said today, “The rule against double jeopardy is not a rule designed to protect the guilty but to protect the innocent.”
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The presumption of innocence dictates that the State has no greater obligation to protect its citizens from a person who has been released from custody than it has to protect its citizens from any other member of the public.
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The issue is how do we meet the legitimate aims of this legislation whilst protecting the fundamental liberty rights at stake in the criminal justice process.
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Why is the government indulging in this reprehensible behaviour? Because it is trying to arrest its way out of the youth crime problem. The Council accepts that there is a youth crime problem. However, this problem cannot be solved by arresting and detainig more children”
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Mr O’Gorman said there is clearly a problem with a cohort of juveniles committing car thefts and violent crime but attacking Judges and Magistrates who cannot defend themselves publicly is a cheap and easy political stunt.
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This legislation was introduced in 2004 at the peak of concerns about terrorism. Since then, we have learned that the law inappropriately prioritizes the secrecy of national security information over the administration of justice
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The Folbigg Pardon highlights the necessity to establish a national Criminal Cases Review Commission in Australia.
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This broad definition of ‘information’ and over-classification of what amounts to ‘national security information’ has serious implications. Anything that could fall within these definitions could be withheld from the defendant (or, in civil proceedings, withheld from one party[1]), which relates to issues of due process discussed above. These broad definitions and scope of the Act increased the encroachment of the executive on due process and a right to a fair trial. As a result, the executive is given ‘enormous scope for unwarranted interference in the administration of justice’
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We remain of the view that you cannot end racism and other pernicious ideas by censorship and policing. What needs to be done is to focus on addressing the root causes of why some people are attracted to such ideologies in the first place, including social isolation, growing economic insecurity and mistrust in government and the media.
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