Arabic version: مشروع قانون في كوينزلاند يقترح إعفاء السجون من التزامات حقوق الإنسان

According to ABC News, a Queensland government bill would remove a requirement for Corrective Services staff to make decisions compatibly with human rights or properly consider them when dealing with prisoners. The proposal would stop section 58 of the Human Rights Act applying to decisions about all prisoners.

Queensland Human Rights Commissioner Debbie Platz said prisoners would have no basis to complain to the Queensland Human Rights Commission if the bill passed in its current form. She said the change would include people held on remand who had not been convicted of a crime.

Sisters Inside north Queensland program manager Carissa Daisy said the exemption would also cover people imprisoned for non-violent offending. The organisation warned it could result in triple bunking, longer periods in solitary confinement and restricted family visits. Ms Daisy said human rights were not a reward for good behaviour.

Corrective Services Minister Laura Gerber defended the exemption in the statement of compatibility tabled with the bill. She said officers should not be required to conduct additional human rights assessments before taking otherwise lawful action, and said the disapplication of section 58 would not authorise unlawful conduct. Ms Gerber said the government would put victims’ rights before offenders’ rights.

The Queensland Ombudsman and Inspector of Detention Services opposed the exemption, citing an ever-present risk of abuse and inhumane treatment in custody. The Human Rights Law Centre said the bill should not pass, describing the proposed carve-out as profoundly dehumanising. The bill is being considered by a Queensland parliamentary committee and would separately extend restricted prisoner status to certain life-sentence prisoners.