Police powers and knife crime laws expanded in Queensland

The state government is moving to make knife laws permanent and expand police powers to randomly check people for weapons.

Left: Jack Beasley, who was stabbed to death in 2019, right: his parents Brett and Belinda Beasley.

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The Queensland government has moved to make the state’s knife laws permanent and expand police powers to randomly check people for weapons.

The reforms to Jack’s Law introduced to parliament on Wednesday will allow senior police to use hand-held metal detectors, known as “wanding”, in all public places if a person is suspected to be carrying a weapon.

The move would also make the legislation permanent ahead of the trial period ending in 2026, fulfilling a key pledge made by Queensland Premier David Crisafulli during the October election campaign.

Police Minister Dan Purdie said the measure would support frontline officers to remove dangerous weapons from the streets of Queensland. “This is not carte blanche opportunity to just wand at will,” he said.

“But it does give the police, when they need or have intelligence of an event occurring, that they can issue a wanding operation, and they can do it.”

The crackdown on knife-­related crime followed the 2019 death of Jack Beasley, who was 17 when he was fatally stabbed by a group of teenagers at Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast.

Wednesday would have been his 23rd birthday.

Jack’s Law was passed by the Labor government in 2023, with the support of the teenager’s parents, Brett and Belinda Beasley, to give police the power to use handheld metal detectors to randomly search people in safe night precincts, and around public transport without a warrant.

The Beasleys said they took comfort in their son’s legacy protecting others. “Jack’s death left a hole in our hearts, but we hope this law will save lives and prevent other families from experiencing the pain we have endured,” Mr Beasley said.

More than 100,000 people have been scanned in Queensland, leading to some 2800 people charged and 1058 weapons confiscated. Similar knife laws modelled on the Queensland approach were passed in NSW and Western Australia, with Tasmania planning to adopt similar legislation.