Queensland makes Jack's Laws permanent, expanding police powers to search people for knives

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a day ago

Police powers to randomly search people for a weapon without a warrant in a public place have been made permanent in Queensland, despite concerns it will not reduce knife-related crime.
Known as Jack's Law, the legislation was named in honour of Queensland teenager Jack Beasley, who was stabbed and killed on the Gold Coast in 2019 while on a night out with friends.
The legislation passed on Wednesday expands Jack's Law to allow police to seek authority from a senior officer to scan a person for a knife or weapon in any public place.
Under the new legislation, officers will be able to use a handheld scanner in a "relevant place" without the need to seek authorisation from a senior officer.
A "relevant place" is defined as a licensed premises, public transport station, public transport vehicle, retail premises, safe night precinct, shopping centre, sporting or entertainment venue.
Police will no longer need to offer to provide a written notice to people who are being scanned or notify a manager or occupier of a place that people are being scanned.
Under the changes, the police commissioner is no longer required to publish information about each authority granted on the police website within two months, but it will continue to be included in the annual report.
The amendment extends the powers beyond October 2026, when they were set to expire.
Jack's father, Brett Beasley, described Jack's Law as "one of the most powerful" to be introduced in Queensland.
"We are super proud," he said. "We have Jack looking down on us every day and we know Jack would be proud of what we have done for him."
Police were first given the power to use a handheld scanner without a warrant to detect if a person had a knife as part of a trial at two safe night precincts on the Gold Coast in 2021.
That trial was then extended to all safe night precincts and public transport stations across the state.
Further law changes last year saw the trial widened to more public places including shopping centres, retail premises, sporting and entertainment venues, licensed premises and rail lines.
Police conducted 116,000 scans between April 2, 2023, to June 5, 2025, which resulted in the seizure of 1,100 weapons.
Acting Assistant Commissioner Rhys Wildman said it was a "huge concern" that 1 per cent of those scanned were found to be carrying weapons.
"These laws are used across Queensland on a daily basis making sure they can keep our community safe and also protecting our officers," he said.
He said the exercise had led to more than 3,000 offenders being charged for offences related to weapons, drugs and other matters.
Griffith University professor Janet Ransley, who co-authored a review of the 12-month trial of Jack's Law on the Gold Coast, said making the laws permanent "won't achieve what the government promises".
"The government promises safer communities and a reduction in violence but the only publicly available data that relates to the use of wands shows that they have no impact on reducing knife-related violence," she said.
Professor Ransley said there was no doubt wands were effective at detecting knives but there needed to be further steps to address underlying drivers that lead people to carry knives.
"We are seeing the diversion of significant resources and significant police time to a tactic that doesn't have any evidence to support it," she said.
When asked about the need for an independent review, Mr Purdie said the laws had been trialled for five years and safeguards — including police body-worn cameras and mandatory reporting by police — were in place.
Acting Assistant Commissioner Wildman said since the trial, two complaints had been made against police, which had resulted in no further action and the scans were deemed to be lawful and justified.
'What that highlights is the professionalism with which our frontline police operate these laws on a day-to-day basis,' he said.
In a submission to the committee tasked with considering the changes, the Queensland Human Rights Commission recommended delaying making Jack's Law permanent until there was a further independent review into its efficacy in deterring knife crime.
It submitted the use of handheld scanners without warrant or reasonable suspicion places "substantial limits on human rights".
Mr Purdie said he believed the government had "found the balance between civil liberties and ensuring our police have the power to stop people carrying knives".
"The stats speak for themselves," he said. "We trust police with these tougher laws because we are concerned about driving down victim numbers."
Youth Advocacy Centre chief executive Katherine Hayes expressed concerns about removing the option to give a person an information notice about the search that helped "inform young people of their rights in intimidating situations".
"We find that a lot of our clients don't know their most basic legal rights and legal obligations and so most of them wouldn't be aware that it's an offence just to carry a knife,' she said.