Drug drivers will face higher fines under new Queensland laws

Queensland parliament passes harsher drug and drink driving penalties In short: Increased penalties for drink and drug drivers have been passed through Queensland parliament. Transport Minister Brent Mickelberg says the reforms aim to improve road safety. What's next? From December, a motorist with the presence of methamphetamine, cocaine or cannabis in their saliva will face a fine of up to $4,835 and a loss of licence for at least two months. Drivers with a drug present in their blood or saliva will face higher fines under new laws passed in the Queensland parliament. From December, penalties for drug driving and combined drink-and-drug driving offences will increase. The state government had said these reforms were an evidence-based response to rising road trauma and were informed by experts, crash data, and enforcement trends. Transport Minister Brent Mickelberg said there was "no silver bullet" to reducing the road toll but that the broad reforms aimed to increase road safety. "The increased penalties will better reflect the seriousness of the offending and send a clear message that dangerous behaviour is unacceptable," he told the House on Thursday. "I make no apology for taking a strong position against drink and drug driving." Mr Mickelberg said the road toll had increased by 35 per cent between 2019 and 2024. "These are more than growing statistics. These are brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers and friends that are no longer with us," he said. "That is why the Crisafulli government is working on multiple fronts to get people home sooner and safer." Under the new laws, offenders driving with a relevant drug in their saliva will face a fine of up to $4,835 and lose their licence for a minimum of two months. Those drugs are methylamphetamine, cocaine, MDMA or tetrahydrocannabinol, also known as THC. A driver who tests positive to drugs and has an illegal blood alcohol concentration will face a maximum fine of $5,699 and a licence disqualification for at least three months. Under current state laws, there are no minimum fines for drink or drug driving offences. Mr Mickelberg had previously said that, in some cases, these court-imposed fines had been lower than penalties for other offences, such as mobile phone use or not wearing a seatbelt. Under the new reforms, there will be a minimum court-imposed fine for drink and drug driving. The legalisation also included a new immediate six-month licence suspension framework for drivers detected travelling more than 40 kilometres per hour above the speed limit. State parliament also passed a raft of other reforms, aimed at cracking down on dangerous driving, on Thursday night. These changes featured increasing the maximum penalty for motor vehicle offences which result in death or grievous bodily harm from 16 years to 25 years and expanding mandatory imprisonment requirements for serious and repeat dangerous driving offenders. During the debate on the bill, Shadow Transport Minister Bart Mellish said the Labor Opposition welcomed the government's recognition of the importance of road safety. But he said the new reforms fell short. "Instead of striking the right balance between public safety and individual rights, the LNP government uses road safety as a crutch to justify measures unsupported by evidence to remove judicial discretion and disadvantage everyday Queenslanders," he told State Parliament on Thursday. Concerns raised over medicinal cannabis In a submission on the bill, Alcohol and Drug Foundation's (ADF) state manager Martin Milne said changes would negatively impact people "simply" taking their legal medicinal cannabis prescriptions. He also raised concerns that THC could remain detectable in saliva for up to three days after use. RACQ general manager for advocacy Joshua Cooney told a parliamentary committee that he supported the bill's combination of stronger consequences, intervention and behaviour change measures. "We're not here to stand against the use of medicinal cannabis. We're here to advocate for improved road safety," he said in July. During the debate, Mr Mickelberg acknowledged the concerns raised over legal medicinal cannabis prescriptions users. He said the Queensland Drug Driving Review, commissioned by the former government, found that there was "no scientifically reliable THC threshold or impairment-based roadside test that accurately distinguishes impaired from unimpaired drivers". "The review also identified broader concerns about medicinal cannabis prescribing practices, medication misuse, illicit THC products and the increasing crash risks associated with THC," Mr Mickelberg said. He said until those matters were addressed, "the safety of all road users must remain our primary consideration".