If you are facing a drink driving charge in Queensland, it is highly likely that you are concerned about what impact the punishment will have on your life.
The courts have a lot of powers when it comes to sentencing drink drivers. This can include fines, licence disqualifications and even jail.
However, for lots of Queenslanders, their biggest concern might be what impact a drink driving conviction will have on their Blue Card.
What is a Blue Card?
The Queensland Government introduced the Blue Card to ensure that children are safe and protected.
A person will need to go through a strict screening to determine whether they are eligible for a Blue Card or not. If they are ineligible, they may not be able to work with children and young people in certain jobs or volunteer positions.
The Eligibility Process
You must be able to meet certain criteria before you can apply for a Blue Card. As part of this check, your previous history with the law will be examined in detail.
The check will look at factors such as whether you have:
- Any criminal history;
- Child protection prohibitions orders; and
- Any disciplinary action that has been taken against you by certain organisations.
This does not, however, mean that a conviction for any offence will prevent you from obtaining a Blue Card. It will only be an issue if the offence is classified as a “serious” a “disqualifying” offence.
These offences include burglary, supplying dangerous drugs and possessing child exploitation material. You can review the full list here.
Will a Drink Driving Conviction Affect a Blue Card?
Drink driving offences are found under the Transport Operations (Road Use Management) Act – or “TORUM” for short. This legislation deals with traffic offences including unlicensed driving, careless driving and so on.
Importantly, there are no offences listed in TORUM which are included in the list of serious or disqualifying offences.
This means that drink driving is not an offence which can impact a person’s Blue Card.
However, you should keep in mind that a drink driving conviction may have an impact if a person’s general character is under review. Therefore, it is always better to aim for no drink driving conviction being recorded by the court, if possible. Even though this won’t make or break your application for a Blue Card, it will surely make a positive difference.