Public Hearings: 25 March 2019

On Monday 25 March 2019, representatives from QLS attended two public hearings.

The first was before the Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee on the Criminal Code and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2019, and Criminal Code and Other Legislation (Mason Jett Lee) Amendment Bill 2019. The Society raised concerns with both the Government and Private Member’s Bill. Concerns included widening the definition of murder to include death caused by reckless indifference to human life, including a failure to provide the necessaries of life in the sentencing framework for the serious violent offender regime, the creation of the new offence child homicide and the proposed mandatory sentencing for child homicide.

The second was before the State Development, Natural Resources and Agricultural Industry Development Committee on the Natural Resources and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2019. The Society recommended that the proposed dispute resolution processes for Land Act 1994 disputes reflect, as far as possible, the Commercial Arbitration Act 2013 framework. The Society also raised concerns about amendments to the resources acts, which would allow the Minister to unilaterally amend or remove certain conditions of an existing permit as a result of an exceptional event.

Read our submission in full now. http://www.qls.com.au/For_the_profession/Advocacy

QLS Legal Policy Manager, Binny De Saram, QLS President Bill Potts, Accredited Specialist in Criminal Law and member of the QLS Criminal Law Committee, Ken Mackenzie.

Chair of the Mining and Resources Law Committee, James Plumb, QLS Senior Policy Solicitor, Vanessa Krulin, Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee member, Karyn Reardon and QLS President Bill Potts.