New laws introduced by the Queensland Government which would allow prison officers to forgo "additional human rights assessments" on the grounds they impose an "unnecessary administrative burden" has been condemned by human rights groups.
Since being elected, the LNP Government has taken a hardline approach to crime and pledged to strengthen protections for victims, introducing a series of laws which have drawn criticism from human rights groups.
The Government introduced the legislation last month, arguing the reforms would strengthen parole laws for serious and life-sentenced prisoners, close loopholes in the 'No Body, No Parole' framework, prioritise community safety, improve victims' rights and increase Parole Board Queensland's accountability.
It claimed an "independent review" found "Labor's parole system put the rights of criminals ahead of the safety of the community".
"This is fixing Labor's broken parole system that let violent killers walk free and put criminals' rights ahead of the safety of victims and the community," Youth Justice and Corrective Services Minister Laura Gerber said at the time.
"We are delivering the strongest parole laws in the nation to keep Queensland's most dangerous criminals, including domestic violence murderers, rapists, and sadistic killers, behind bars for longer."
The latest bill has attracted criticism from the Human Rights Law Centre (HRLC), which argues it would strip prisoners of their rights and undermine their prospects of rehabilitation.
"Ignoring and breaching human rights will not make people in prison, prison staff or the broader community safer," the organisation said in a statement, "and will only undermine rehabilitation and inflict preventable harm on incarcerated people — especially First Nations people and other communities targeted by the criminal legal system".
In a statement of compatibility, Ms Gerber acknowledged part of the bill is "not compatible with the human rights protected by the HRA [Human Rights Act]".
The bill excludes decisions by corrective services officials concerning prisoners, prison placement and supervised dangerous sexual offenders from the application of section 58 of the HRA, which "ordinarily requires a public entity to act and make decisions compatibly with human rights", Ms Gerber wrote.
"The individual human rights of an offender should not prevent, delay or unnecessarily constrain QCS [Queensland Corrective Services] from taking otherwise lawful action necessary to maintain the safe and effective operation of contingency accommodation precincts, enforce the conditions applying to offenders, or protect officers, other persons and the broader community from harm," she said.
"QCS officers should not be required to undertake additional human rights assessments in the interests of an individual prisoner before taking otherwise lawful action necessary to perform these functions."
HRLC First Nations Justice Director Maggie Munn said people do not lose their human rights when they are incarcerated, describing the decision as an "unjustified, discriminatory and dehumanising attack on essential, universal freedoms".
The Gunggari advocate argued Queensland is "in the grip of a government-manufactured mass incarceration crisis".
"Abuse thrives behind prison walls, and this Bill would remove human rights obligations precisely where they are most needed and deny people in prison access to justice and accountability," they said.
"Every person in prison deserves dignity. We call on the Crisafulli Government to uphold human rights and scrap this Bill."
