Penalties for assaults on public officers

The Council is reviewing penalties for assaults on police and other frontline emergency service workers, corrective services officers and other public officers in response to Terms of Reference issued to the Council by the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, the Honourable Yvette D’Ath MP, in early December 2019.

• Terms of Reference (PDF, 931.2 KB)
• Issues Paper
• Summary of Issues Paper (PDF, 189.3 KB)
• Literature review (PDF, 2.8 MB)
  Any views expressed in this report are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the Council.
• Submissions
• Media release – 6 December 2019
• Media release – 13 January 2020
• Media release – 29 January 2020
• Media release – 27 February 2020
• Media release – 30 April 2020
• Media release – 2 July 2020
• About assault, offences and mandatory sentencing (PDF, 2.5 MB)
• Sentencing @ a glance – Serious assault (PDF, 645.9 KB)

The Council is due to report back to the Attorney-General by 31 August 2020.

In April 2020, the Attorney-General granted the Council additional time, extending the Council’s reporting date from 30 June 2020 to 31 August 2020.

The extension was granted on the basis of the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Council’s concerns about the need for stakeholders to have additional time to respond given their necessary focus on delivering essential services to the community during this challenging period.

Issues Paper submissions closed

The Council called for submissions as part of its review of penalties for assaults on public officers and published an Issues Paper that explored the themes raised in preliminary submissions, supported by the Council’s analysis of sentencing trends and reforms introduced in other Australian and overseas jurisdictions.

Submissions closed at 5pm, Thursday 25 June 2020.

We would like to thank the individuals, government departments, employee unions, legal stakeholders and other organisations who provided feedback as part of the Council’s review of penalties for assaults on public officers. The submissions and consultation sessions will inform the development of the Council’s recommendations in response to the Terms of Reference.

Those who missed the submission deadline but would still like to provide written feedback, can email the Council at submissions@sentencingcouncil.qld.gov.au, or write to:

Queensland Sentencing Advisory Council
GPO Box 2360
Brisbane QLD 4001.

Late submissions

If you provide a submission after the due date, the Council may still decide to accept your submission. When deciding whether to accept late submissions, the Council generally will consider matters such as the reason why the submission was lodged after the due date, whether an extension was requested before the due date, and whether the Council has enough time to consider the submission.

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