Dangerous attachment device laws to improve safety

Protest first responders, protesters and the wider community should be safer under new laws by the Queensland Government. The laws — which came into effect on 30 October 2019 — prohibit people from using attachment devices that are either designed to cause injury to people if interfered with, or incorporate dangerous items or materials. These include devices such as ‘sleeping dragons’, ‘dragon’s dens’, ‘tripods’ and ‘monopoles’.

“It is both the design of these devices and the manner in which they are used which make them potentially dangerous,” Queensland Minister for Police and Corrective Services Mark Ryan said. “For example, devices which are embedded with metal or other items and those which incorporate glass sleeves have the potential to cause significant injuries to the individual, police, emergency services and community members if removed incorrectly or hastily.

“Devices that use trip wires or drums reinforced with concrete to obstruct rail lines and roads could result in serious injury or death if individuals are not removed and the trains or vehicles stopped.”

Removal or disassembly of these devices often requires specialist tools, such as angle grinders, cold cut saws, hydraulic cutters, hammer drills and jack hammers and puts device users at risk, according to the government. The risk is exacerbated where individuals have reinforced devices with glass, wire, steel and other items.

People caught using these devices face up to two years’ imprisonment or a fine of nearly $7000, Ryan said. Despite this, Ryan assured Queenslanders that the government “fully supports the right to protest and there is nothing in these laws which prevent lawful protest activity”.

The new laws allow police to search a person or vehicle and seize a dangerous attachment device if they reasonably suspect the device has been or will be used to disrupt a relevant, lawful activity. Police can then deactivate, disassemble and dispose of any dangerous attachment devices.

The use of these laws will be subject to additional oversight in the form of public reporting which will be discussed in parliament, detailing, among other things, where and when searches and seizures took place, the government said.

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