Stalked or Harassed in Queensland? The Old Order That Still Works

Transcript

Someone is stalking you, harassing you, or threatening you in Queensland, and they are not family. A neighbor whose campaign never ends. Someone from work. A stranger who keeps appearing. Queensland gives you two tools at once here: a court order with an old fashioned name and a criminal offense with real teeth. Use both. The order is called a peace and good behavior order. The name is a century old, and the tool still works.

You apply at your local magistrate's court, you set out the threats or conduct, and if the court is satisfied, the person is ordered to keep the peace towards you, with consequences if they do not. If the person is a partner, an ex or a relative, the domestic violence order system applies instead, and we cover that separately. The second tool has teeth. Unlawful stalking is a crime in Queensland. Following someone, watching them, loitering near their home or work, repeated unwanted contact. The straightforward cases are dealt with by magistrates, and the aggravated ones go up to the district court.

Courts dealing with a stalking charge can also attach restraining orders of their own. So a genuine pattern belongs in front of police, in writing, every time it grows. If police have not acted yet, do not let that be the end of it. Report each incident anyway and keep the reference numbers because the criminal offense is built on patterns, and patterns are built from reports. Ask, politely, what would change their assessment? And run the civil track in parallel because the peace and good behavior application is yours to make. You are not waiting on anyone's permission. Both tracks run on the same fuel. Evidence.

A diary with dates, times and exactly what happened, kept as you go, not reconstructed later. Screenshots of every message, comment and call log, backed up somewhere safe. Witnesses, named. Damage, photographed. And discipline from you, no replies, no retaliation, no deleting, because your silence next to their pattern is what a magistrate finds persuasive. And when it plays out online, two national doors open as well. The e safety commissioner can force platforms to remove seriously abusive content targeted at you.

And using a phone or the internet to menace or harass someone is a federal crime, carrying up to five years. Screenshots you saved today are the exhibits for every one of these doors. The rule above all rules. Immediate danger means triple zero every single time. Beyond that, Queensland gives you an order you can seek yourself and a crime police can charge, and both feed on the file you start building today. If you want help with either track tonight, our hotline is free to call at any hour, and a consultation with a lawyer is a fixed price. The number is on your screen.