Qld Attorney-General and Minister for Justice Jarrod Bleijie. Credit:Glenn Hunt "And one of the areas where the Premier needs to start listening is in relation to his anti-crime gang laws". "...These laws are completely unworkable and have gone too far, affecting innocent Queenslanders whose only crime is to ride a motorcycle." Labor had supported the laws, with reservations, when they were first passed in October. But Opposition MPs and independent Peter Wellington have grown increasingly critical of the laws, the implementation of the legislation and its scope.

Ms Palaszczuk said Labor would establish a public judicial inquiry "to assess the state of organised crime in Queensland and the need for any legislative measures" if it was elected. "We will get these laws right," she said. "We will repeal and we will replace them." Not surprisingly, the motion received no government support. Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie moved an amendment that the laws were "working and helping to combat crime and unlawful activity in Queensland", which had LNP MPs enthusiastically nodding their heads.

The debate also gave Mr Bleijie an opportunity to engage in one of his favourite parliamentary pastimes – defending his laws and attacking their detractors. "Let's look at actually where they [the Opposition] actually stand on this issue," Mr Bleijie said. "Because I am as confused as a scrambled egg where the Opposition actually sit on this issue. "So we introduce the laws and they voted for them, they supported the laws, that was fine, the next day the Opposition Leader did a press conference having some concerns about the laws. "We then brought a second range of reforms in, they then supported the laws ... then they came out and opposed the laws, but wouldn't repeal them ... so that was they are no good, but we are not going to get rid of them.

"Then the Leader of the Opposition said 'let's have a parliamentary inquiry', then it went from a parliamentary inquiry to a judicial inquiry, then today today we have a motion on the books from the Leader of the Opposition, now its back to a parliamentary inquiry "...but then lo and behold, just when I thought we had got ten positions, I guess they have had eight positions for each member over there, but because we've had the new member sworn in today, so they came up with an eighth position on the laws, they then say they'll repeal the laws. "So they now finally said they will repeal the laws ... this has just been this cog, of change of position, because they don't know where they stand, they've got no ethics and accountability on this issue." The Opposition remained unmoved by Mr Bleijie's rebuttal and have vowed to continue to challenge the government on the laws. “This was an opportunity for Campbell Newman to put his promises into action and actually start listening to people," Ms Palaszczuk said, in a statement released after the debate.

“He has made a mockery of his commitment to listen more and consult more.”