Politics Assignment 9: Child Killers to Face Tougher Penalties in QLD

This assignment is a comprehensive analysis of child killing in Australia, focusing on the political and legal responses, particularly the new Queensland laws. The student explores the issue's impact on democracy and liberties, referencing relevant literature and legal frameworks. The report includes a letter addressed to the Prime Minister of Australia, Scott Morrison, advocating for stricter penalties and highlighting the importance of protecting children's rights and social harmony. The assignment utilizes secondary sources, qualitative research methodology, and a descriptive design to examine the federal government's role and the need for legislative action to address child killing as a threat to social security and democratic principles. The student provides recommendations for extending penal scopes and amending laws to ensure tougher punishments for child killers, emphasizing the importance of considering the intention of the accused and the severity of the harm caused.

Running head: POLITICS ASSIGNMENT
Child Killers to Face Tougher Penalties
Under new Queensland Laws
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

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Table of Contents
Part 1..........................................................................................................................................2
Part 2..........................................................................................................................................4
Reference....................................................................................................................................8

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Part 1
1) The issue of the case is about child-killing, which is one of the most threatening acts in
Australia. Child-killing is a process where the grievous injuries have been caused by the
persons with an intention to kill the child (Schulz, 2018). There are many forms of child-
killing and such a heinous act is adverse to democracy and liberalism.
Liberal democracy is a part of political ideology where the common people are getting their
rights and liberties and they can lead their life freely. Under this system, separation of power
can be observed and in the word of Tate, in the democratic society, the common people can
exercise their power by electing the members of government and the people have their right
to live freely, without any encumbrances. Further, it has been observed by Kevin Rudd that
under a democratic state, the people should live with harmony. However, the current issue
opposes the fundamental principles of democracy and liberties. The main reason is that child-
killing denies human rights and destroys the harmony within society. As Australia is a
democratic state, the government should take strong steps to overcome such issues and strict
laws are required to be enacted in this regard.
2) In this report, concise research has been made on the child-killing and how this act
denies the fundamental principles of democracies and liberties. To collect reasonable
information and find out proper sources and records, the researcher has used secondary
sources. In this report, information has been collected from scholarly journals, articles, e-
books, and other useful commentaries. Further, certain information has been collected from
the news settlers and a detailed reference list has been mentioned by the author at the end of
the research to make the research authentic and follow the ethical consideration. Further,
qualitative research methodology has been used in this case and a deductive approach has

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been made by the researcher to this effect. Considering the facts of the case, it can be stated
that in this research, the descriptive design has been made.
3) Besides, a democratic state, in Australia, the federal form of government can be
observed and such government has three levels such as federal government, state
government, and local government. All these forms of government are enjoying separate
power. In the federal government, most of the decisions are taking by the Federal Parliament
and Prime Minister is the leading authority in the Federal government. Under this
government, two houses are present such as the House of Representatives and the Senate.
Issues like social security and foreign affairs are governed by such a form of government. On
the other hand, in state government, decisions are taken by the Parliament House and the
leader of such a form of government is Chief Minister. Matters like justice, public transport
and education are regulated by such a government. The last level is a local government where
the decisions are taken by the city council and councilors are the leaders of such government.
Issues like public health and recreational facilities are governed by this government.
In this case, child-killing is a part of social security and therefore, the Federal government has
to take possible steps to deal with the issue. The Federal government has to enact suitable
legal bills for the territory of Australia so that strict punishment can be generated on the child
killers and to overcome the issues. However, they also must enact a law to secure the interest
of society at large. The practice of child-killing is a direct threat to social security and hence,
the matter should be discussed with serious consideration.
4) In this report, a letter has been written to Scott Morrison, Honourable Prime Minister of
Australia and he is a member of the House of Representatives. He is responsible for the
public issues and as a leader of the Federal government, he has ample power to discuss and
pass proper legal bills in both the Houses. Further, being a prime minister of Australia, he

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could take necessary steps to stop the heinous crime like child-killing and he can better
understand the importance of the issue. In Australia, many incidents on this issue have been
reported and many journals have been published highlighting the social threats. In this report,
a letter has been written to the Prime Minister to make him aware of the facts and current
state of social security. Further, in the letter, certain critical analysis has been made on the
topic to analyze the current issue on the light of democratic liberty. Certain recommendations
have also been given in this letter to help the government by avoiding the problem.
Part 2
To
The Hon Scott Morrison MP
Prime Minister
House of Representatives
Parliament House
Canberra Act 2600
11th September 2019
Dear Prime Minister,
This letter is written by me as a student of Criminal penology and Criminal justice, and most
importantly as a proud citizen of Australia due to its unity and integrity.
On the first occasion, I want to congratulate you on the prestigious post you are holding and
serving our nation in such a beautiful manner being a leader of the Federal government for
many years. Being a part of the democratic state, I feel proud to have such a competent leader
like you and you have able to make a strong impression in the minds of the Australians for
your skills and abilities. Being a member of the Liberal Party of Australia, you have shown
much courage and zeal to make effective change in the social and diplomatic affairs and

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make a broad approach to establish the democracy all over the state. You are the face of your
party’s success and being a proud Australian, I am grateful to you for all your efforts to make
Australia one of the developed countries around the globe.
However, I am addressing this letter to you to discuss one of the most essential social
problems of Australia and along with the problem; I am going to make a connection between
the problem and the democratic and liberal culture of our state. Based on neutral politics, no
one can claim a nation as a fully democratic state and with the effect of political
concentration on the civic society, it can be stated that full liberty cannot be given to the
public at large. By democratic nations, we understand a situation where the rights of the
people are secured and social harmony can be observed. Further, under democracy, common
people are getting an opportunity to elect their representatives for the government and the
elected members must take effective decisions to secure the interest of the common people.
However, in many cases, due to certain adverse conditions, it has become impossible for the
ministers to maintain democratic ambiance. To deal with such conditions, proper law is
enacted so that the people can lead their lives within a certain social restriction. In my present
letter, I am going to discuss one of such issues that posed as a serious threat to our democratic
society and moreover, to the liberty of the people.
Under democracy, every person has the constitutional right to lead their life without any
encumbrances and crimes like killing a human being pose a potential threat to such practice.
For the past few years, many incidents of child-killing have been reported in Australia and
due to such incidents; the social harmony of the nation has been broken (O’Brien & Fitz-
Gibbon, 2016). To deal with the situation, several states have enacted their separate legal
penalties and in recent times, some strong steps have been made by the government of
Queensland. According to Honorable Yvette D'Ath, Attorney-General and Minister for
Justice, if any person has been convicted of committing murder, he has to face life

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imprisonment according to the new Palaszczuk Government legislation (Chong, Fellows &
Kocsis, 2018). It has been stated by the concerned Minister that the security of the common
people is the priority for the government and in this regard, the definition of the term murder
should be broadened. The main intention for such a legislative step is to hold the killers for
their actions that, most of the time, devastated the life of the victim’s family (Bartels et al.,
2018). To deal with this situation, an amendment bill has been passed in the year 2019 on the
Criminal Code and other legislation. To discuss the Bill, the concerned Member of
Parliament has stated that the criteria of punishment should be tougher for those who are
taking the lives of the children and the elder persons and take the cases of child
manslaughters with high priority (Hemming, 2019).
According to the Law of Queensland, certain things are required to be proved in case of
murder. At the initial stage, the intention of the killer and the nature of the harm caused on
the victim’s body must be proven. However, under the new amendment bill, another clause
has been included that highlights an act or omission with reckless indifference to human life.
The term an act or omission with reckless indifference to human life means an act of the
respondent to cause grievous bodily injury to the victim with the knowledge that such harm
can be caused death to the victim and yet continue such harm (Chan, 2019). The nature of the
act, in this case, should be malicious and the actual intention of the respondent should be
assessed in this case. There is a direct relation of this act with the legal definition of
manslaughter. Murder has been defined under section 18 (1) (a) of the Crimes Act 1900 as an
intentional act of the accused by causing grievous harm to the body of the victim to kill the
person and by reckless indifference to human life. However, the process of self-killing is
outside the purview of this definition according to the case of IL v The Queen (2017) 260 A
Crim R 101 at [25]. According to the intention of the current Amendment Bill 2019, the
amount of violence or the negligence on the part of the accused should be taken into

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consideration. However, in case the intention of the accused to kill the child or cause
grievous harm could not be proved, less action will be taken to punish the accused. A final
report on the Sentencing for criminal offenses arising from the death of a child has been
submitted by the Queensland Sentencing Advisory Council and in this report, a wide
definition of murder has been proposed (Wallis et al., 2015). Further, a review has been
conducted by the authority where it has been observed that less punishment has been ordered
in case of child manslaughter (Bird, Fitts & Clough, 2016). To deal with such situations, a
tougher punishment process has been proposed by the authority.
Under a democratic state like Australia, every child as a human being has a right to lead their
life under safety precautions and the child has a right to be free from violence. However,
considering the recent cases on child-killing, serious threats have been imposed on such
mentality. In the year 2017, a case of the drunken baby sitter has been reported where a child
has been murdered by him and the accused got eight years imprisonment (Ross, 2019). In the
year 2015, an eighteen month’s child has died with several body injuries (Taylor & Thomas,
2018). Such incidents have proved the failure of the state government to enact proper laws for
such crime.
It is, therefore, recommended that the penal scope in such cases should be extended and the
government should amend the law by extending the terms of imprisonment for the accused of
child-killing. Along with the intention of the accused, the number of bodily injuries should be
assessed by the court and on proving the vulnerability of the acts; the accused should get
tougher punishment including life imprisonment.
As one of the most capable members of the House of Representatives, it is my earnest request
to you to take a close vigil over the issue and make strong decisions to punish those culprits
who are engaged in such heinous crime.

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Reference
Bartels, L., Gelb, K., Spiranovic, C., Sarre, R., & Dodd, S. (2018). Bail, risk and law reform:
A review of bail legislation across Australia. Criminal Law Journal, 42(2), 91-107.
Bird, K., Fitts, M. S., & Clough, A. R. (2016). Alcohol management plans in Indigenous
communities in Queensland (Australia) may have unintended implications for the care
of children. Health & justice, 4(1), 8.
Chan, H. C. O. (2019). Case 02—The Child Sexual Homicide in Queensland: The Case of
Barrie John Watts (1987; Australia). In A Global Casebook of Sexual Homicide (pp.
41-52). Springer, Singapore.
Chong, M. D., Fellows, J., & Kocsis, R. (2018). Beyond mere deterrence: Rethinking
criminal justice policies for north Queensland. James Cook UL Rev., 24, 209.
Hemming, A. (2019). Response to consultation questions for review of the common law
forfeiture rule.
O’Brien, W., & Fitz-Gibbon, K. (2016). ‘Cemented in their cells’: a human rights analysis of
Blessington, Elliott and the life imprisonment of children in New South
Wales. Australian Journal of Human Rights, 22(1), 111-133.
Ross, P. H. (2019). Legal policy: Child homicide bills flawed. Proctor, The, 39(4), 35.
Schulz, P. D. (2018). Children protection, politics and procrastination: The discourse of
deferral. Children Australia, 43(1), 13-22.
Taylor, K., & Thomas, T. (2018). The supervision of high risk sexual offenders in North
Queensland. James Cook UL Rev., 24, 277.

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Wallis, B. A., Watt, K., Franklin, R. C., Nixon, J. W., & Kimble, R. M. (2015). Where
children and adolescents drown in Queensland: a population-based study. BMJ
open, 5(11), pp 257-265.

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