Ah, Queensland! Land of sun, surf, and social media constraints.
Wait, what?!!
That’s right. While young people everywhere are blissfully posting #BeachVibes and sunset selfies on every platform from Facebook to X, the Queensland Government has put its foot firmly down. From now on, if Queenslanders are thinking of posting anything about bad behaviour, they’d better be ready to face the Long Arm of the Law.
Welcome to the wonderfully wacky, weird world of our new Post and Boast Laws — where crime doesn’t pay, and bragging about it will cost you plenty.
In a nutshell: Queensland’s Post and Boast laws make it a criminal offence to post content online that boasts about certain illegal behaviour. Think TikTok clips of burnout competitions in Woolies car parks, or Instagram stories of joyrides in your mate’s souped-up ute. All that? Illegal.
The intent of the legislation is to stop people glamorising dangerous and unlawful behaviour that turns public roads into Fast and Furious, and private homes into Oceans 11.
The laws were first introduced back in March 2023 via the Strengthening Community Safety Act 2023, where posting and boasting about hooning offences became an aggravated offence. Then, late last year, hidden amongst the hype around Jack’s Law in the Queensland Community Safety Act 2024, the criminalisation of posting and boasting was extended to offences such as going armed so as to cause fear, dangerous operations of a motor vehicle, common assault, assaults occasioning bodily harm and burglary. Not only that, but an entirely separate offence under the Summary Offences Act 2005 was introduced, making it a crime to, without reasonable excuse, publish material on social media that depicts conduct that constitutes a prescribed offence for the purpose of glorifying the depicted conduct or increasing a person’s reputation because of their involvement in such conduct. Anyone charged with that offence now faces up to 2 years imprisonment.
Why target social media? Because trends show that young criminals love an audience. It’s not enough to do the burnout — you’ve got to film it, add a filter, throw in some rap music, and post it with #LegendStatus.
Queensland’s lawmakers realised that the digital applause was fueling the performers’ behaviour, so they decided to pull the plug on their audience. Now, just posting the video can be enough to get you in trouble with the police— even if you didn’t do the crime yourself.
But ‘what about Freedom of Expression?’, you may ask. Great question. But the answer you will get is, while freedom of expression may be very important, it doesn’t protect public from potentially catastrophic consequences when that expression involves, say, glorifying behaviour that endangers lives. The law targets content that actively encourages or celebrates illegal acts — not just someone talking about cars, or your local neighbourhood watch chairman reposting a viral break-in clip ranting about “kids these days”.
Moral of the story? If you’re tempted to post your latest burnout clip with a cheeky “lol don’t tell the cops” caption — maybe reconsider. Because in Queensland, the cops already know. And they probably follow your page.
And next time you’re tempted to hit “Share” on that spicy burnout video, just ask yourself: Is this worth a criminal charge?
Chances are, it’s not. Stick to sunsets and sausage sizzles — much safer, and still very Queensland.
