Fed-up crime victims have their say on 'breach bail, go to jail' laws

In short:

The committee examining proposed tougher bail laws in Queensland has concluded regional hearings in Cairns, Mareeba and Townsville.

Crime victims, legal experts and ex-prisoners shared hopes the bill would take offenders off the streets and concerns it would put pressure on an already struggling justice system.

What's next?

The committee will now prepare a report for parliament.

Exhausted and fed-up crime victims have filled a small hall in the regional Queensland town of Mareeba, determined to have their say on proposed tougher bail laws.

The gathering was one of a number of hearings being held by a parliamentary committee across North and Far North Queensland on the state government's proposed "Breach Bail, Go to Jail" legislation.

Under the bill, courts must be satisfied to a "high degree of confidence" that an accused person will not reoffend before granting bail on serious charges.

It also introduces a new offence for those who commit a serious offence while on bail, carrying a mandatory 12 months in custody.

Mareeba local Barry Simpson told the committee current legislation failed to protect victims, and he hoped tougher bail laws would make a difference.

He said his wife and family were haunted by having someone break into his room at night, steal his keys and car, and write off the vehicle.

"The biggest thing they stole was our feeling of safety and security," he told the committee.

"If you haven't been broken into, you really don't know what the hell you're talking about."

In Cairns, FNQ Softball representative Lyn Kelly told the committee her staff were exhausted after constant break-ins and vandalism at their Edmonton sporting complex.

She said volunteers were holding sausage sizzles to cover damage costs, while government funding that could have gone to help kids play sport was being used to fund CCTV cameras instead.

"Mums and dads are cleaning up before the children can even play their sport. Volunteers are exhausted," Ms Kelly said.

She told the committee of two instances in May where staff were unable to get out of their cars as young people continued to vandalise the grounds.

"Myself and others were terrified to even go to the grounds so we cancelled those nights,"she said.

Victims told the committee of the personal cost of crime, from thousands of dollars in damage to fear that kept them up at night.

The majority backed the bill's push to get repeat youth offenders off the streets, while others called for early intervention and detention programs to operate alongside or instead of the laws.

Across hearings in Cairns, Mareeba and Townsville, about 120 people attended.

Community mislead

At the Townsville hearings, former inmate Tahlia Isaac said the committee was misleading the community into a false sense of safety.

"Stop selling victims of crime the lie that stronger laws are going to keep them safer," she told committee members.

Ms Isaac said it was "luck" that let her turn her life from drug crime to helping female prisoners re-enter society.

Without a focus on rehabilitation, she said the bail laws would "exacerbate" reoffending.

"My sentence length wasn't what changed my behaviour, it was the supports that I received while I was in custody," she said.

Ms Isaac opposed holding children to the same standards as adults, and said the system needed to be redesigned entirely.

"Stronger sentences, longer sentences and harsher penalties do nothing to curb crime; they only warehouse the problem," she said.

"We need to be addressing the reasons why people are committing these offences in the first place."

Opposition from legal experts

Across the board, legal experts fronting the committee warned the bail laws could have unintended consequences for victims and put pressure on the justice system.

Cairns barrister Shay-Lee Laing, representing the Australian Lawyers Alliance, told the hearings the bill required a conviction on the original charge before an accused could plead to the new offence.

She said that could make alleged offenders less likely to plead guilty, to avoid facing the extra charge.

"The bill removes an incentive to resolve the matter early and that incentive presently works in favour of victims and witnesses,"she said.

She also warned the new bail test could disadvantage children with disabilities or unstable housing.

"It really risks operating as a proxy for access to those things," she said.

First Nations support group director Carl Lymburner works with Indigenous offenders through the court system, incarceration and release.

The Bindal man, who had his own history of crime, said the bill lacked the right emphasis on rehabilitation, likening prisons to missions for First Nations people.

"Instead of being put on missions, we're being moved to prisons and that's youth and kids now," he said.

Mr Lymburner backed jailing serious reoffenders but wanted rehabilitative programs with an Indigenous cultural element built into the system instead.

Regional hearings have now concluded, and the committee will prepare a report for parliament.

The Crisafulli government has said it intends to have the bill through parliament before the end of the year.