On 27 August 2026, Attorney-General Deb Frecklington introduced the Breach Bail, Go to Jail and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2026 into the Queensland Parliament. The Justice, Integrity and Community Safety Committee has since received submissions and heard evidence on that bill, with regional hearings still to come before it reports.
The Government has committed to having the Bill law before the end of the year.
The Bill does three things. First, it reverses the presumption of bail for serious offences allegedly committed while a person is already on bail, unlawfully at large or in default of a court appearance.
Second, it adds another, higher threshold that must be cleared even after cause is shown.
Third, it creates a new criminal offence carrying a mandatory minimum of 12 months in custody. All three measures apply both to adults and to children.
How Bail Works in Queensland Today
The baseline is the Bail Act 1980 (Qld).
The general presumption. Most people charged with an offence are presumptively entitled to bail. Under s16, a court may refuse bail if it is satisfied there is an unacceptable risk that the person will do any of the following:
- fail to appear;
- commit further offences;
- endanger community safety;
- interfere with witnesses.
In making that assessment, the court weighs the nature of the charge, the strength of the prosecution case, the defendant’s history and any proposed conditions.
The existing show cause categories. For some charges, the burden already flips. Under s16(3), a defendant must show cause why their detention in custody is not justified in defined situations. One of those situations is being charged with an indictable offence allegedly committed while on bail for another indictable offence.
The route to the Supreme Court. If bail is refused in the Magistrates Court, the matter can be taken to the Supreme Court of Queensland. Contested bail applications for serious charges are frequently decided there, reliant on detailed affidavit material.
In other words, Queensland law already treats offending on bail seriously. The Bill does not create that concern. It hardens the response in two places at once: at the bail stage and at sentence.
What the Bill Proposes
1. A reversed presumption for a wider category of defendants
For adults, the Bill inserts a new show cause situation into s 16(3) of the Bail Act. For children, it amends s 48AF of the Youth Justice Act 1992 (Qld). The reversal applies where an adult is charged with a prescribed offence, or a child is charged with a significant offence (an Adult Crime, Adult Time offence), and that offence was allegedly committed while the person:
- was released on a previous grant of bail;
- was unlawfully at large after that bail was revoked; or
- had failed to appear in court as required by a summons or notice to appear.
The “failed to appear” limb is notable. It captures people who were never formally on bail but were proceeding by summons or notice to appear and missed a court date.
2. A second, higher threshold
This is the most consequential change for bail practice: showing cause will no longer be enough.
For adults, a new s 16AA of the Bail Act applies. A court or police officer must refuse bail unless the defendant satisfies them, to a high degree of confidence, that the defendant will not commit a further prescribed offence while released on bail.
For children, a parallel s 48AG of the Youth Justice Act applies the same test to a further significant offence. It also directs the decision-maker to consider only matters relevant to that risk.
The significance is structural. The current test asks whether the risk is unacceptable, and allows conditions to manage it. The proposed test requires the defendant to positively establish, to a high degree of confidence, that a further serious offence will not occur. That is a markedly harder proposition to prove, and it binds police bail decisions as well as courts.
3. A new offence with a mandatory minimum
The Bill inserts a new offence into the Bail Act (proposed s 29AA): committing a prescribed offence (adults) or significant offence (children) while on bail, while unlawfully at large, or while in default of a summons or notice to appear. It carries:
- a mandatory minimum of one year’s imprisonment, served wholly in a corrective services facility (for children, detention served wholly in a detention centre); and
- a maximum penalty of three years’ imprisonment.
The words “served wholly” matter. On their face, they indicate the minimum period must actually be spent in custody, rather than served in the community or cut short by early release.
Why It Matters Legally
Conviction for the underlying offence does most of the work
Under the Bill, a person “commits” the prescribed or significant offence for the purposes of the new offence if they are convicted of it. That includes a finding of guilt where no conviction is recorded. The new charge can be laid before that conviction. Proof of the conviction, and proof that the person was on bail or had been served with a summons or notice to appear, are expressly made admissible to establish the offence. Where multiple offences arise out of the same set of circumstances, a person can be convicted of only one of the new offences.
In practice, the underlying charge becomes the trigger, and the trigger carries at least 12 months. That changes the calculus of every underlying charge. Two things may be the difference between a non-custodial outcome and a mandatory year in custody:
- a plea to a lesser offence that is not prescribed;
- a successful challenge to the date of the alleged offending, or to whether it is a prescribed offence at all.
Timing now matters
Under proposed s 29AC, the new offence cannot be charged or prosecuted once the person has been sentenced or otherwise dealt with for the underlying offence. The sequencing of charges, pleas and sentencing therefore becomes a genuine strategic consideration. Timing questions must be identified early, not discovered at sentence.
Discretion is removed at the floor
Mandatory minimums displace the ordinary sentencing process. A court could not go below 12 months, however compelling the defendant’s circumstances, including youth, mental health, a minor role in the offending, or strong prospects of rehabilitation.
For children, the Bill goes further. Courts would be prevented from referring the new offence for court diversion. Police would no longer be required to consider alternatives to proceeding against a child, or to arresting a child for a breach of bail conditions; they would simply be permitted to.
The Human Rights Act override
The Government has tabled a statement about exceptional circumstances with the Bill. The key provisions, including the new bail test and the new offence, contain override declarations under s 43 of the Human Rights Act 2019 (Qld). An override declaration means those provisions have effect despite being incompatible with human rights, including the right to liberty and the rights of children in the criminal process. Each declaration expires five years after it commences unless it is renewed.
Who This Affects and How
This is not a law about missing a curfew. A breach of a bail condition, such as failing to report or breaching a curfew, does not on its own trigger the mandatory minimum. The target is a further serious offence committed while a person is already on bail. Breaching conditions continues to carry its own existing consequences, including arrest and revocation of bail.
The net is still wide. For children, the new offence applies to Adult Crime, Adult Time offences, reported to number 47 and including murder, manslaughter and vehicle theft. For adults, a separate list of prescribed offences applies. It includes serious violence, sexual offences against children, robbery, burglary, unlawful use of a motor vehicle, drug trafficking and coercive control. The Government has described the adult list as capturing coercive control and Daniel’s Law child sexual offences.
The people most exposed are:
- anyone granted bail after the laws commence, for any offence, including minor offences, who is later charged with a prescribed offence;
- people proceeding by summons or notice to appear who miss a court date;
- people facing domestic and family violence allegations, given the inclusion of coercive control; and
- children aged 10 to 17 charged with Adult Crime, Adult Time offences.
When the new rules would bite
The Bill, as introduced, includes transitional rules:
- The new offence applies to bail granted, or a summons or notice to appear served, from commencement. This is so regardless of when the original offence occurred.
- The new bail test applies to prescribed or significant offences committed on or after commencement.
Put simply, a grant of bail made before the laws commence would not, on its own, expose a person to the new offence. A fresh grant of bail made after commencement would.
What the defence will turn on
Under this regime, the hard fights move earlier. Expect contests over:
- Status. Was the person actually on bail, unlawfully at large, or in default of a summons or notice to appear at the relevant time? When was that bail granted, or that notice served? Date and time evidence becomes critical.
- Classification. Is the offence charged genuinely a prescribed or significant offence, or has it been overcharged?
- Strength of the case. The weaker the prosecution case on the new charge, the stronger the bail application under the new test.
- Risk evidence. Accommodation, employment, treatment plans, sureties and supervision arrangements must be built properly and presented through admissible evidence, not assertion. Under the new test, they must speak directly to the risk of a further serious offence.
The Queensland Dimension
The Bill extends the Government’s Adult Crime, Adult Time agenda into bail. It was an election commitment. The Government maintains it responds to community concern that existing bail laws do not adequately deter or hold to account people who commit serious offences while on bail.
The response from the sector has been sharply divided. The committee received more than 250 submissions, many of them critical, from policing, legal and advocacy bodies.
- Youth Advocacy Centre: estimated the cost of the mandatory sentence at around $1 million for a single child.
- Luke Twyford, Principal Commissioner of the Queensland Family and Child Commission: backed the aim of improving community safety, but told the committee that punishment alone will not change behaviour.
- Voice for Victims: supported the Bill while calling for a more holistic approach.
Capacity is the practical question. Overcrowding in prisons and youth detention has been a major concern raised by stakeholders. The Crime and Corruption Commission noted that overcrowding increases the likelihood of excessive force by police. Longer remand periods mean more people waiting in custody before a court has determined their guilt.
What to Watch Next
- The committee report. Watch for recommended amendments, particularly to the s 16AA test and the prescribed offence list.
- The Bill as introduced commences on 30 November 2026. This may change on amendment.
- Final transitional rules. These determine exactly who is caught, and when. Any changes on amendment will matter to everyone currently on bail.
- Supreme Court practice. Expect early decisions interpreting the “high degree of confidence” standard. These will shape bail practice for years.
We will not speculate on the Bill’s final form. We will update this analysis when it passes.
Key Takeaways
- The Bill would reverse the presumption of bail for prescribed offences (adults) or Adult Crime, Adult Time offences (children) allegedly committed while on bail, unlawfully at large or after failing to appear.
- Showing cause would no longer be enough. A second test requires the defendant to establish, to a high degree of confidence, that they will not commit a further serious offence while on bail.
- A new offence carries a mandatory minimum of 12 months, served wholly in custody, and a maximum of three years.
- On the Bill as introduced, the new offence applies to bail granted, or summonses and notices to appear served, from commencement.
- The Bill is not yet law. Its proposed commencement is 30 November 2026.
Practical matters
Our government, populated by non-lawyers with no experience in this field, continue to express a willingness, almost eagerness, to erode the discretion of both the courts and their expertise as well as our Human Rights. This is not what the public voted for.
If the reforms result in more people being remanded and sentenced to mandatory imprisonment, Queensland taxpayers will bear the cost. Courts will face more contested applications, prisons will become more crowded, and already stretched rehabilitation services will be required to support a larger custodial population.
Tacky political slogans have overtaken considered and reasoned legislation. The proper question is not simply whether serious offending on bail should have consequences, it plainly should.
The question is whether mandatory imprisonment, reduced judicial discretion and a stricter bail test will deliver sufficient improvements in community safety to justify the financial cost, additional prison crowding and long-term social consequences – which are never considered by the current governments, as those consequences will be seen long after the current government is gone.
Conclusion
The Breach Bail, Go to Jail Bill changes the stakes of a second charge. It shifts the burden onto the accused and adds a new, demanding test for release. It also removes judicial discretion at the bottom of the sentencing range. For anyone granted bail once the laws commence, the margin for error narrows sharply. Three things will decide outcomes that courts can no longer soften at sentence: how a charge is framed, when it is laid, and how strong the evidence behind it really is.
When your liberty is on the line, the first bail application can decide the next year of your life. Jones + Associates has the experience to run it properly. Book a confidential consultation or call 07 3229 3166. Fierce. Focused. Fearless.
This article reflects the Bill as introduced on 27 August 2026 and is current as at 22 September 2026. It is general information, not legal advice.