The Queensland Labor Party-controlled Community Safety and Legal Affairs Committee has today (Friday, August 2nd, 2024) tabled its report on the Queensland Community Safety Bill 2024.
You can read the Committee’s report here:
The Bill will seriously impact licensed firearm holders in Queensland – along with many other people, including potentially you and your family. The Bill amends 12 different Acts and is massively complex. The Explanatory Notes alone go for 100 pages. Despite the complexity of the bill, the public were only given two weeks to make submissions. Out of 250 submissions almost all raised objections.
A diverse range of community groups and government agencies expressed serious concerns
about elements of the Bill, including:
- Queensland Law Society
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service
- Women’s Legal Service
- Queensland Council for Civil Liberties
- Free Speech Union of Australia
- Office of the Information Commissioner of Queensland
- Queensland Council of Social Services
- Legal Aid Queensland
- Together Queensland
- Queenslanders with Disability Network
- Domestic Violence Prevention Centre
- Queensland Human Rights Commission
- Queensland Mental Health Commission
- Family Responsibilities Commission
- YFS Legal
- Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
- Child Protection Peak Limited
- Queensland Indigenous Family Violence Legal Service
- Queensland Network of Alcohol and Other
- Drug Agencies
- PeakCare Qld
- DV Connect
- The Uniting Church in Australia
- Queensland Synod
- Firearm Dealers Association of Qld
- Queensland Advocacy for Inclusion
- Office of the Public Guardian
- AgForce
- North Queensland Women’s Legal Service
- TASC Legal and Social Justice Services
- eSafety Commissioner
Despite the huge range of unintended negative consequences that those groups have identified,
the Committee has recommended that the Bill pass without even one single amendment.
NOT ONE SINGLE AMENDMENT.
All the Committee has done in each section is cherry-pick one or two minor points of objection,
and then cut and paste the Queensland Police Service reply to those. There is no serious inquiry, no critical analysis, and apparently absolutely no effort by Committee members to do their job.
This shows an astonishing level of contempt for Queenslanders. It also shows that the politicians who wrote that Report have arrogantly disregarded their responsibilities as representatives of the people.
There are two ways you can show your disgust at this:
- Sign the e-petition against this Bill, here:
- Contact your local Member of Parliament and tell them that what the Committee has done is not good enough – and that you expect your MP to oppose the Bill until and unless it is properly amended to deal with community concerns. Make it abundantly clear to your MP that your vote in October’s election WILL depend on how they respond to this issue.
