The Queensland Government has announced plans to end the "gay panic" defence which is a legal loophole that could be used to reduce convictions if a defendant claimed they were provoked.
Attourney-General Paul Lucas told the Star Observer that "the Queensland Government does not believe that anyone should be able to use a claim of non-violent homosexual advance to reduce a conviction from murder to manslaughter."
A special committee set up in November last year recommended amendments to the law to ensure that partial defence provisions were clarified, and an unwanted sexual advance would not be enough to constitute provocation except in extraordinary circumstances.
Read more in the Star Observer: 'Gay panic' defence to go