Two alleged school stabbings in the first week of Queensland’s new school term have triggered myriad legal obligations for the school principals, despite the Police Minister’s insistence that their priority is “keeping kids educated in our schools”.

Police Minister Dan Purdie reacted to news of the apparent knife violence this week by suggesting that “Jack’s Law” can be used by Queensland Police Service (QPS) on Queensland school grounds.[1]

Jack’s Law gives QPS officers the power to detect and remove weapons, particularly knives, from high-risk areas such as safe night precincts, licensed venues and transport hubs. The law means officers can conduct searches using handheld metal detectors (commonly referred to as "wanding") without a warrant in locations defined as "relevant places".

Minster Purdie has rejected suggestions that “wanding” powers could be extended to school employees, stating “Principals run their schools and their main priority is keeping kids educated in schools, and we don’t want to start allocating that position for the principal.”

But the school leaders who preside over the campuses where these incidents occurred know they are required to navigate a labyrinth of legal obligations triggered by the alleged knife violence.

Immediate responsibilities

Following a stabbing or imminent threat, school principals must activate emergency response plans, contact police and emergency services, secure the scene as far as safely practicable and initiate notifiable‑incident processes through the Department of Education. The State Government must support incident command, provide surge resources, liaise with the Work Health Safety (WHS) regulator and coordinate media and system‑level communications within the Information Privacy Act 2009 (Qld) allowances for emergency disclosures.

Notifiable incidents and scene preservation

A stabbing that causes death or serious injury, or that requires immediate treatment for the victim as an inpatient, is a notifiable incident that triggers statutory obligations for the school to notify the WHS regulator and preserve the incident site, so far as it is safe and reasonably practicable, until an inspector arrives or directs otherwise. School principals have to ensure these notifications are made without delay through Departmental channels and that the site is preserved in accordance with police and emergency requirements.

In the longer term, Queensland’s school principals are obliged to implement reasonable, proportionate measures to prevent and respond to foreseeable risks of violence. They are to draw on statutory powers under the Education (General Provisions) Act 2006 framework, WHS duties that extend to workers and other persons at the school, and child-protection and privacy obligations when harm occurs. Meanwhile, the State must resource and systemically manage these duties as the “person conducting a business or undertaking” (PCBU).

These duties exist alongside the non‑delegable common‑law duty of school authorities to ensure reasonable care is taken for student safety and the obligation of all public entities to act compatibly with the Human Rights Act 2019 (Qld).

Non‑delegable duty of care owed by school authorities to students

Australian high authority establishes that a school authority owes its students a non‑delegable duty to ensure that reasonable care is taken for their safety while they are attending school, which requires positive steps to protect against reasonably foreseeable risks of more than insignificant harm. In State of New South Wales v Lepore [2003] HCA 4 the High Court confirmed this duty in cases addressing school responsibility for student injury.

School principals and the State also have obligation to protect rights under the Human Rights Act 2019 (Qld) including the right to life, the security of the person, protection of children and privacy. That means decisions such as suspensions, exclusions, searches by police, and information sharing with families will need to be structured and documented to show compatibility with these rights and any justified limitations.

The Education (General Provisions) Act 2006 (Qld) provides a structured student discipline regime, including powers for suspension and exclusion, which principals may employ when a student’s conduct creates serious risks to the safety or wellbeing of others. In the context of knives or credible threats of violence, use of these powers must reflect procedural fairness and be proportionate to the risk, while also demonstrating consideration of relevant human rights.

Queensland’s Weapons Act 1990 makes it an offense to possess a knife in a public place or a school without a reasonable excuse, providing the criminal‑law backdrop for school‑level prevention and response policies, signage and student communications. Principals have an obligation to align on‑site practices with this prohibition, including immediate police engagement where there is suspected possession, threats, or use of knives.

The State’s primary duty and the principal’s operational role

Under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011, the State of Queensland, acting through the Department of Education, is the “person conducting a business or undertaking”. This means the State owes the primary duty to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of workers and that the health and safety of “other persons” is not put at risk from work carried out at the school. Students and visitors are “other persons” at the workplace. Principals, as senior managers of the school workplace, are responsible for implementing the State’s WHS management system, conducting risk assessments for violence hazards, adopting reasonably practicable controls, and verifying that controls remain effective.

Meanwhile, officers of the Department must exercise due diligence to ensure the PCBU complies with its duties, including by securing adequate resources, appropriate policies for violence risk, and effective incident‑response capability. Principals are required to escalate resourcing and systemic risks to these officers to enable those due diligence functions and to document the reasonableness of site‑level decisions.

Worker consultation and right to cease unsafe work

The WHS framework requires consultation with workers and any WHS representatives on measures affecting health and safety, including violence controls, training, and post‑incident changes. Teachers have duties to take reasonable care for their own health and safety and may have statutory rights to cease or refuse unsafe work where there is a reasonable concern of serious risk emanating from an immediate or imminent exposure to a hazard, which principals must manage within prescribed issue‑resolution procedures.

Mandatory reporting and risk escalation

The Child Protection Act 1999 establishes Queensland’s child‑protection framework and imposes obligations, including for certain professionals such as teachers, to report to child‑protection authorities where there is a reasonable suspicion of significant harm or risk and inadequate parental protection. In knife‑related incidents involving children, principals must ensure staff are supported to make timely mandatory reports, in addition to contacting police and managing immediate safety. Teachers and principals could even face criminal charges themselves if subsequent investigations find they had reason to make such a report before the incident occurred.

Privacy, emergencies, and communications with families and staff

The Information Privacy Act 2009 applies to Queensland’s public sector agencies and permits use and disclosure of personal information where reasonably necessary to lessen or prevent a serious threat to life, health, safety or to respond to an emergency, as well as where required or authorised by law. In critical incidents, principals may lawfully share necessary information with police, health services and affected families, while still limiting disclosure to what is proportionate for safety and welfare and documenting the legal basis for the disclosures. They will know they have a responsibility to get this right when dealing with media enquiries and requests for information from concerned parents.

Recovery, discipline, and staff wellbeing

After the incident, principals must re-assess WHS controls before resuming normal operations and they will need to consider things like trauma‑informed support for students and staff, ensure worker consultation about post‑incident changes, and verify that revised controls meet the standard of reasonably practicable measures under the WHS Act across the school network.

So, the harsh reality is that the combined effect of common law, education, WHS, child‑protection, privacy, and human‑rights legislation is that school principals must juggle these complex obligations while also (somehow) as the Minster says, “keeping kids educated in our schools”.

Further information / assistance regarding the issues raised in this article is available from the author, Edmund Burke, Partner, or your usual contact at Moray & Agnew.