The Queensland government will reinstate a specialist drug court providing offenders with tailored treatment programs, four years after it was scrapped under the LNP's Campbell Newman.
Legislation to reintroduce the court and expand its jurisdiction to include alcohol-related offences passed state parliament on Tuesday.
Attorney General Yvette D'Ath said the diversionary court would return as a pilot program in Brisbane next month, with $22.7 million in funding allocated over four years.
"Severe drug and alcohol misuse contributes to poor health, education and economic outcomes for individuals and their families and increased levels of criminal activity which negatively impacts on our community's safety," Ms D'Ath told parliament.
"This government recognises that addressing the negative impacts of severe drug and alcohol misuse requires a sophisticated and multifaceted approach consisting of both punitive sanctions and rehabilitative solutions."
The court was established under Peter Beattie in 2000 before being expanded in 2006 and later repealed during Campbell Newman's single-term government in 2013.
Reinstating it was a key 2015 election promise made by Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk's government.
Under the new laws, a drug and alcohol treatment order will be established as a new sentencing option for eligible offenders.
To qualify for the sentence offenders would be required to plead guilty to an eligible offence, have a severe drug or alcohol use problem that contributed to their offending, and the court being satisfied it would otherwise consider a sentence of jail time.
The bill also included amendments to the Evidence Act that would block a self-represented accused person from directly questioning domestic violence victims who had been allegedly choked, strangled or suffocated.
The Liberal National Party did not block the bill, but shadow attorney general Ian Walker accused the government of taking too long to introduce the amendments and urged it do more to address drug-related crime.
"It is only the LNP that always puts community safety first," he told parliament.
"It should be the priority responsibility of any government to keep its citizens safe."
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