List: all 14 last-minute amendments rushed through by the Queensland government without scrutiny
Changes range from the policing of sex workers to overriding the state’s Human Rights Act, to allow children to be kept indefinitely in adult watch houses
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Originally introduced in October last year, Queensland’s child protection (offender reporting and offender prohibition order) and other legislation amendment bill started life as an extremely routine housekeeping law.
The bill updated a range of rules for people convicted of sexual offences, and modernised the child protection registry scheme, among other changes. Probably its most interesting element was to allow police to enter the home of more convicted offenders without a warrant to inspect their electronic devices, retrospectively.
The first amendment removed the requirement for offenders on the sex crimes registry to report the location of every digital device they own or have access.
The government acted on longstanding inquiry recommendations, decriminalising the offences of begging and public drunkenness. The offences have a disproportionate impact on vulnerable groups like Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Queenslanders and homeless people, and are perceived as criminalising people for simply being poor. Minister Ryan said “these behaviours require a health and social welfare-based response” rather than a criminal one.
In a related amendment, the laws limit the ability of police to punish people for public urination. Police will retain the power to issue an infringement notice to a person for public urination, in order to protect business in the CBD and the nightclub district of Fortitude Valley, according to Ryan’s speech.
The government also moved to overturn a decision by the Queensland court of appeal which prevented it from imposing disciplinary sanctions on a number of police officers. The cops had to be reappointed to their sometimes senior positions as a result of a “technical error” in the way they were referred to the office of state discipline, Ryan said.
The next amendment implements a recommendation of the 2021 inquiry into legalising sex work in Queensland. The bill will now eliminate the power of police to move on a sex worker for soliciting, and eliminate covert powers relevant to sex work. Ryan said the reform was a step towards legalising sex work entirely.
Amendment six clears up some ambiguous language relating to the Queensland police service’s anti-pedophile squad, Taskforce Argos.
Law (Australia) | The Guardian
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