Qld sex offender laws won’t withstand high court challenge, says Labor

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/18/qld-sex-offender-law-high-court-challenge

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The Queensland parliament has passed new laws that give the attorney general powers that used to rest with the courts.

Attorney general Jarrod Bleijie has faced a wave of anger over laws that hand him the power to keep sex offenders in jail indefinitely. Academics, civil libertarians and the Labor opposition have accused him of breaching the separation of powers and say the move is dangerous for democracy in the state.

The laws passed parliament early on Friday, alongside others that mean fewer workers will be able to sue their employers for injuries suffered on the job.

Opposition leader Annastacia Palaszczuk told parliament the sex offender laws were a publicity stunt. She said the state's top lawyers had warned they would not withstand a high court challenge and the government itself knew that.

"I have never before seen a bill drafted in the full knowledge that it could be declared unconstitutional," she said. "The normal practice is to draft a bill that is likely to be valid."

She said the laws were dangerous because they undermine the checks and balances built into the legal system.

"If one party thinks a judge gets it wrong, there are others who are charged with responsibility for reviewing those decisions. That should not be the attorney general or any other member of the executive," she said.

The police minister, Jack Dempsey, said the Newman government was finally meeting community expectations about what should happen to the worst sex offenders.

Bleijie told parliament there would be no apologies for the stance the government had taken.

"I hope I never have to use this legislation … because if we do, it means that an innocent child is likely to have been sexually abused by one of these predators in our community," he said. "I will always stick up for the rights of children in this state."

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