Queensland politics live: Crisafulli walks back AG hate speech powers; ‘Incorrect and insulting’: Government rejects reports on crime data

Queensland’s hate speech and gun laws will return to parliament this week, with the LNP government and Labor opposition stoking claims of division in their rivals’ party rooms.

The Crisafulli government was forced into an eleventh-hour change to its hate speech legislation following cabinet on Monday, reducing the proposed powers granted to the attorney-general and instead moving forward with banning just the two phrases – “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” and “globalise the intifada”.

For Labor’s part, it has said it will support the contentious laws despite voicing concerns and facing backlash from grassroots groups within the party.

Follow our live politics blog for the latest from parliament today.

The Queensland government has rejected reports the state’s lower crime victims number is the result of a change in data collection, which Police Minister Dan Purdie described as “incorrect and insulting”.

News Corp reported this morning changes to laws under the former government, which came into effect last year, changed requirements for police to investigate incidents of domestic violence between a child and family members.

Bond University professor and former detective Terry Goldsworthy attributed the change to a disproportionate drop in assaults against children being reported in domestic violence matters.

“Suggestions made today that police in some way are not prioritising, protecting or investigating crimes committed against children, or by children, is categorically incorrect and insulting,” Purdie told parliament.

“Suggestions that anyone who complains to police about being assaulted isn’t being thoroughly investigated and included in victim numbers is incorrect.”

Labor members in parliament suggested the changes were “secret”. This all comes after Premier David Crisafulli staked his leadership on a fall in crime victim numbers.

Youth Justice Minister Laura Gerber had earlier spruiked the fall in victim numbers under the government’s measure. After noting a 7.2 per cent drop in those numbers over the past year, Gerber was drowned out by laughter from Labor opposition benches.

Assistant Commissioner Katherine Innes also responded to the reporting, saying the Queensland Police Service: “will always prioritise and investigate allegations of assault committed by or against young, vulnerable members of our community”.

“Amendments to the Domestic and Family Violence Protection Act 2012 in no way diminishes the responsibilities of police to investigate reports of assault and harm involving young people in a domestic and family violence setting,” she said in a statement this morning.

The government had flagged yesterday there would be four bills introduced this week, including the next stage of its “adult crime, adult time” laws, but had not elaborated.

Now, with a statement to parliament, Police Minister Dan Purdie has revealed the first: a previously flagged unwinding of Labor’s three-strike drug possession scheme.

These will “restore deterrence and consequences for dangerous drug offending”, Purdie says.

But the laws will also go further, targeting “antisocial behaviour, protecting Queensland cities and towns under siege”.

Purdie is talking here about the LNP’s criticism of what Premier David Crisafulli has described as “knee-jerk” action to decriminalise public drunkenness and urination.

This would work by the government introducing “designated business and community precincts” akin to the current safe-night precincts, Purdie says.

“And giving police strength and powers to deter, detect and respond to antisocial behaviour … police will be able to issue banning orders prohibiting people who behave in a disorderly, offensive, threatening or violent way, or who disrupt the peaceful passage or enjoyment of others in the precinct.”

Parliament is in session this morning, kicking off the second sitting week of the year.

It begins with Speaker Pat Weir giving the opposition a bit of a talking to about repetitive questions on notice, and reminding everyone of the parameters of debate on bills.

Labor MPs are shifting around their substitute speaker duties, with Ferny Grove MP Mark Furner out and Greenslopes MP Joe Kelly in, Weir says.

We then move into a condolence motion for the former Labor MP for Whitsunday, Lorraine Bird – the first Labor member, and woman, to represent that community.

Premier David Crisafulli passes on the parliament’s condolences to Bird’s family – including her husband John watching from the public gallery – after Bird’s passing on November 17, at the age of 83.

Opposition Leader Steven Miles says Bird won her seat in the Goss landslide of 1989 by just 12 votes.

“Despite this close result, Lorraine was a strong representative and earned the trust and respect of her community going on to serve the people of the Whitsundays for three terms,” Miles said.

Whitsunday LNP MP Amanda Camm and McConnell Labor MP Grace Grace note in their speeches they had decided to wear trousers in the chamber today.

“A nod for Lorraine, who, in 1990, after receiving permission from the Speaker, became the first female MP to wear trousers in the Queensland Parliament,” Camm says.

“Now, it may not seem much, but it was another step, as outlined by the premier and leader of the opposition, in the road for women in this house.”

Labor Opposition leader Steven Miles has claimed Premier David Crisafulli was forced to walk back hate speech powers fearing LNP backbenchers would cross the floor when voting for the high-profile legislation.

The government revealed late on Monday it had made an eleventh-hour tweak to the laws after cabinet voted to reduce the attorney-general’s reach to symbols alone, requiring banned phrases to instead pass through parliament.

The laws initially would have granted the attorney-general powers to regulate against phrases, spoken or written, and symbols deemed to be regularly used to incite hostility towards a group and which are reasonably expected to offend the public.

“Last night David Crisafulli was rolled by the LNP backbench,” Miles said this morning ahead of parliament resuming.

“We knew that LNP backbenchers were set to cross the floor this week to vote against the premier’s gag on freedom of speech.”

The Labor opposition will support the Crisafulli government’s hate speech and gun laws, despite preparing a 27-page statement of reservation that raised concerns relating to freedom of speech and accusing the LNP of playing politics in the aftermath of a national tragedy.

Opposition Leader Steven Miles said yesterday the decision was based on the sentiment from hundreds of submissions to the rushed parliamentary scrutiny process, and the statement of reservations from his colleagues involved.

“Labor supports the stated intention, the stated sentiment of the bill, and therefore will vote for it,” Miles said at a brief media conference, declining to say if there was internal resistance to the stance.

“However, these laws put Queensland out of step with the rest of the country when it comes to gun law reform, they will leave Queensland with the weakest gun laws in the country.

“We have also carefully considered the government’s proposal to criminalise speech … [which] give the government of the day extreme and unchecked powers.”

Flagged after the December attack on a Jewish Hanukkah event in Sydney, the suite of laws were introduced last parliamentary sitting.

The bill goes further than any other jurisdiction, with two phrases on the banned list – the common pro-Palestine protest chant “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” and “globalise the intifada”.

The Queensland government last night revealed an eleventh-hour tweak to its contentious hate speech and gun laws proposal, walking back previously unrivalled powers granted to the attorney-general.

The laws initially would have granted the attorney-general powers to regulate against phrases, spoken or written, and symbols deemed to be regularly used to incite hostility toward a group and which are reasonably expected to offend the public.

However, cabinet voted on Monday morning to reduce the attorney-general’s reach to symbols alone, requiring banned phrases to instead pass through parliament.

Attorney-General Deb Frecklington said the tweak, only revealed late on Monday after reporting by 7 News, came after the state “listened carefully” to concerns raised during public consultation in February.

The changes come as the state’s Labor opposition conceded it would back the bill ahead of today’s parliamentary return, despite internal pressure and fears that some elements would go too far, and others would fall short.

Flagged after the December attack on a Jewish Hanukkah event in Sydney, Frecklington introduced the suite of laws last parliamentary sitting.

The bill goes further than any other jurisdiction, with two phrases on the banned list – the common pro-Palestine protest chant “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” and “globalise the intifada”.

Queensland’s hate speech and gun laws will return to parliament this week, with the LNP government and Labor opposition stoking claims of division in their rivals’ party rooms.

The Crisafulli government was forced into an eleventh-hour change to its hate speech legislation following cabinet on Monday, reducing the proposed powers granted to the attorney-general and instead moving forward with banning just the two phrases – “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” and “globalise the intifada”.

For Labor’s part, it has said it will support the contentious laws despite voicing concerns and facing backlash from grassroots groups within the party.

Follow our live politics blog for the latest from parliament today.