Parents and carers who cause fatal injuries to their children as a result of continuous abuse will face life in prison for murder under new laws to be introduced to Queensland next year.
Attorney-General Yvette D'Ath announced an expansion of the definition of murder on Wednesday while also endorsing recommendations to amend sentencing laws for child homicide.
"Those who have callous disregard for human life, where it leads to the death of a child or a vulnerable person, that if convicted, you will face life imprisonment," Ms D'Ath said.
It would bring Queensland into line with other jurisdictions and follows widespread community outrage over recent child killings.
William Andrew O'Sullivan was this year convicted of manslaughter for beating toddler Mason Jet Lee over a number of days and leaving him to die in 2016.
His lawyer argued O'Sullivan's neglect of his stepson and failure to get medical help for injuries he sustained in the months prior was the result of poor parenting rather than malice.
O'Sullivan's sentence of nine years jail with a non-parole period of six years was widely viewed as inadequate.
The new laws will apply to child and adult homicides resulting from long term physical and sexual abuse, particularly where victims are young, disabled or elderly.
"When a child has been continuously physically or sexually abused and that abuse causes such horrific injuries that it leads to the death of a child, no one thinks that that is anything other than murder," Ms D'Ath added.
It comes after a review of child homicide rulings in Queensland courts found prison sentences handed to child killers are too low.
Ms D'Ath last year called on the Queensland Sentencing Advisory Council to consider if current penalties for the murder and manslaughter of children reflect the vulnerabilities of young victims.
The council's report released on Wednesday found sentences being handed down for child manslaughter were the same or less than those given to people who killed adults.
"The council would have expected, on average, sentences for offences committed against children to be higher than those committed against adults had their level of vulnerability been accorded significant weight in sentencing," the report says.
Ms D'Ath said the government had accepted recommendations including amending existing laws to ensure courts consider the vulnerability of a victim younger than 12 as an aggravating factor when sentencing killers.
It would mean judges can still impose a sentence that considers individual circumstances of each case while acknowledging community expectations that killers should spend more time behind bars.
But the state opposition says child manslaughter should carry a mandatory 15-year sentence.
Liberal National Party leader Deb Frecklington agrees with widening the definition of murder but wants to raise the minimum sentence for murder from 20 years to 25 without parole where the victim is under 18.
"I'll do it this term and if the Labor party don't support the LNP's tough child killer laws then I'll take it to the people in October 2020," she said.
Australian Associated Press
