As a husband, a parent, a Queenslander, I was absolutely shocked and sickened by what happened to Teresa Bradford.
For the Premier and Attorney-General to say they are going to review bail laws again, to say they may do something … quite frankly, is the kind of gutless leadership we have become used to from this Labor Government.
We don't need another review to tell us the system has failed yet another victim.
We know what they do when they review. They hold reports back, let them gather dust in George St and, worst of all, they never act.
So if they won’t do what they’re paid to do, and lead, we will.
We will be introducing a Private Members Bill in the first week of Parliament.
We will reverse the onus of proof for bail in domestic violence-related crimes such as assault, grievous bodily harm, deprivation of liberty, strangulation and kidnapping.
This is the first part of a multi-pronged approach and, over the next few weeks, after consulting with stakeholders we will announce a number of other measures to toughen our bail, parole and youth justice systems.
It’s been two years after the Not Now Not Ever report made 140 recommendations and, as of today, only 46 have been implemented.
That is simply not good enough from an inexperienced, do-nothing Labor Government.
What we are proposing is a sensible reform that will rebalance the scales of justice in favour of community safety.
With more than 22,000 DV protection orders now flooding the courts each year we can’t afford not to have the strongest bail laws to protect victims.
