Brisbane news live: Review to consider whether all murders warrant mandatory life sentence

The Queensland Law Reform Commission is seeking feedback on whether the state government should ease mandatory life sentences and minimum non-parole periods for murder.

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In a discussion paper released on Thursday, the commission said that while such legislative requirements “protect the community,” and provide consistency, surveys had shown the community expected sentencing to reflect the defendants’ culpability and specific circumstances.

“There are various problems with the mandatory penalty of life imprisonment for murder and the associated minimum non-parole periods,” the commission said, arguing that it discouraged guilty pleas and did not allow the courts to recognise any mitigating and aggravating factors.

While the commission listed several options, without proposing any single reform, it had flagged unrelated changes to certain criminal defences. Under those proposals, there would be a new legislative test for self-defence and the “complete defence” of provocation would no longer apply to certain domestic violence offences.

The partial defence of provocation would be partially repealed – “it is inconsistent with current community attitudes to excuse lethal violence borne of anger and jealousy” – and a new partial defence would be introduced to recognise principles of trauma and excessive self-defence.