How Jack’s Law is keeping Queensland safer
They’re responsible for one of the state’s most historic safety laws, but it’s hard to ‘celebrate’ its success when it’s a constant reminder of the worst moment in their lives.
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Together, Brett and Belinda Beasley are responsible for one of Queensland’s most historic and far-reaching public safety laws.
But it’s a distinction they wish was never bestowed on them, and one they’d forgo in a heartbeat, if only they could bring their boy Jack back.
For the Beasleys, Jack’s Law – the landmark legislation allowing police across the state to use metal detectors or “wands” to scan people for knives and other weapons, and named after their 17-year-old son who was stabbed to death outside a Surfers Paradise supermarket in December 2019 – is both a badge of honour and a cross to bear.
“You wouldn’t wish this on your worst enemy,” Brett says.
“Belinda and I have been thrust into this new world now that we never wanted to be in. I didn’t want to be here talking to you. We don’t want to be on TV talking about our dead son. It’s horrendous.
“But unfortunately, we are and we’ve got to do it, because we don’t want any other family to go through what we’ve been through, and are still going through. And that’s why we do what we do.”
Brett and Belinda were in state parliament earlier this month to see Jack’s Law, which was previously a trial, made permanent and expanded so that police can now scan people for weapons in all public places.
Brett is speaking from his local watering hole, the Arundel Tavern on the northern Gold Coast. It’s a place close to the hearts of the Beasleys – working class, salt-of-the-earth types who used to bring a young Jack here for a game of pool and a coloured lemonade.
“Jacko loved it here – he used to win at pool, the little s. t,” Brett says.
“We used to come down here quite a bit with him. It’s a special place, because it’s where we also held Jacko’s wake, and where we hold a lot of functions and events for the (Jack Beasley) foundation.”
A red-eyed Brett casts his mind back to that terrible pre-Christmas night that led him to where he is today, talking to another journo he wished he never had to.
“It was Friday the 13th,” he says.
“Jack had been at Schoolies and was at home having a rest, but wanted to go back into Surfers with his mates. They were all underage so they couldn’t get into nightclubs, but just wanted to go to the beach and wander around.
“I was at home cooking a barbie and having a beer and we received a call to say ‘you need to get to the hospital, Jack’s been stabbed’.
“We just thought it might have been something minor, like a scratch on his arm or leg, but when we got to the hospital, it was way more serious than that, and we got dragged into a room by the nurses.
“Belinda was in tears. They sat us down and said ‘Jack’s been stabbed and he’s in a bad way’. I sort of said ‘how bad is he?’ and they said ‘well, it’s dire’.
“They worked on Jack, still not telling us how severe it was at that stage. We didn’t know he’d been stabbed in the heart. It was a single blow but unfortunately, he bled out. And the surgeons came in after an hour or so and, yeah, they just said two words: ‘we’re sorry’.
“It was f … g devastating mate. It rocked our world from that night on.”
Brett wistfully remembers his youngest son as “a fantastic young fella” who loved playing rugby league and riding motorbikes.
“Both of my boys (Jack and older brother Mitch) were outdoorsy sort of kids,” he says.
“Jacko always had a crazy sense of humour. He was very affectionate. He’d always come in when he was younger and lay on me and we’d watch a movie and that together.
“He was never one to look for trouble but he was in the wrong place at the wrong time that night in Surfers. What happened to him was terrible, he didn’t deserve it. He was just a good-hearted young bloke.”
The unbearable heartbreak of losing Jack gave way to white-hot anger as his five accused killers (all aged between 15 and 18) faced the courts, with three later acquitted of manslaughter. In 2022, the main perpetrator – who cannot be named because he was a juvenile at the time of the fatal stabbing – was sentenced to 10 years’ jail.
“The court cases dragged on for years,” Brett says bitterly.
“Sitting in court looking your son’s killers in the eyes is a hard thing to do. Your heart’s wanting you to jump the counter and f … n kill them, but that’s obviously not the answer.
“I wish ‘adult crime, adult time’ laws were in place then because he’d (the main offender) have got life in prison. Instead, he’ll be out on parole next year, on December 13 actually.
Brett says while his wife would consider meeting the killer face-to-face, “I will never go near him, ever, and I’ll never forgive him”.
“He’s a grub, an absolute f … g grub,” he spits.
“Being an Islander islander kid, you wish that they could be deported, but he’s an Australian citizen, so unfortunately we’re stuck with him. We just hope and pray that he doesn’t get out and hurt anybody else like he did to our son.
“He wrote a letter to us, which was all bullshit as far as we’re concerned. It sounded like it wasn’t even coming out of his mouth. It was coming out of a solicitor’s mouth or something. It wasn’t genuine, it wasn’t heartfelt.”
Like other Queensland parents who have lost their kids to violent crime – such as Bruce and Denise Morcombe, Paul and Kay Stanley and Sue and Lloyd Clarke – the Beasleys set about channelling their untold grief into campaigning for a safer community, in an effort to ensure no other family would have to suffer like they have.
With the help of some close friends and Jack’s footy club the Helensvale Hornets, they established the Jack Beasley Foundation to lobby for tougher knife crime laws and an education program in schools.
“We basically started the foundation almost straight away, in 2020,” Brett says.
“Jack was loved and respected by thousands of people and, as a dad, I couldn’t just let him go – I couldn’t have my son murdered by a knife and become another statistic to knife crime without doing something about it.
“Getting the foundation off the ground was a long, hard slog but we had lots of help and we did it, and here we are today. It’s going good.”
One of the foundation’s first missions was to lobby for Jack’s Law, which began as a trial on the Gold Coast in 2021 before becoming statewide legislation in 2023. In April this year, on what would have been Jack’s 23rd birthday, beefed-up legislation making Jack’s Law permanent and allowing police to use handheld scanners to detect weapons in all public places was introduced to parliament.
Jack’s Law has resulted in police seizing more than 1300 weapons, including over 400 in the last year alone. Since July 1 last year, police scanned a total of 50,102 people and laid 2252 charges, 338 of them weapon-related.
“Police and politicians told me in the beginning ‘Brett, this won’t happen mate – you’re pushing s. t uphill’, but I don’t take no for an answer and we fought and fought and fought to get these extra wanding and search powers,” he says.
“We got 50 knives off the streets, then 100, then 150 – and I kept saying, ‘see, it’s working’.”
Brett credits figures including former police commissioner Katarina Carroll with helping get Jack’s Law enshrined in the state’s legislature.
“Katarina is a lovely lady and has been a massive supporter of ours,” Brett says.
“She reached out to me when she was still police commissioner and said ‘Brett, I just want to congratulate you and your wife for what you’ve done – you have no idea how huge these powers are. These powers are the most extraordinary powers that Queensland has ever had’. And they’re saving lives, there’s no doubt about it.”
After relentless lobbying by the Beasleys, Jack’s Law-style legislation has now also been adopted by NSW, Western Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory.
Brett says he’s also been in talks with the South Australian government but Victoria – which recently introduced an Australia-first ban on machete sales following a terrifying shopping centre brawl – is proving a tough nut to crack. Expanding the law internationally is also in discussion.
The Jack Beasley Foundation also runs a dedicated education program, with Brett and Belinda visiting dozens of schools across Queensland and interstate to tell their tragic story and try to ram home to youngsters the potentially deadly consequences of carrying knives.
“We’re proud to keep Jack’s name alive,” Brett says.
“We just wanted everybody to know who he was and what happened to him. We don’t want grubs coming into beautiful places like the Gold Coast and killing our kids. Australians killing Australians? It just doesn’t make sense. The Diggers who fought for this country would be rolling around in their graves.”
Originally published as How Jack’s Law is keeping Queensland safer
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