The husband of Kathleen Dennis, a beloved Brooloo mother-of-seven killed when her car crashed with a car driven by a meth user, has welcomed proposed drug law reforms following the Dennis family’s advocacy.
Last year, 45-year-old Carla Anne Lutgenau was found guilty in the Gympie District Court of dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing death and grievous bodily harm.
A Gympie jury heard that in September 2022, Ms Lutgenau consumed methamphetamine before driving in the wrong lane of Kandanga Imbil Road at Imbil, south of Gympie.
Ms Lutgenau’s car collided head-on with a car coming in the opposite direction driven by Kathleen Dennis with her son Luke.
Drone photo of crash SUPPLIED
56-year-old Ms Dennis died at the scene and Luke Dennis sustained multiple injuries including a brain injury. Later, in court, the victim impact statements were so emotional, the Dennis family’s lawyer wept as she read Luke’s statement to the court.
While the jury found Ms Lutgenau guilty of dangerous driving causing death and grievous bodily harm, she was acquitted of a separate charge of dangerous driving causing death and grievous bodily harm ‘while adversely affected by an intoxicating substance’.
Legal loophole
Justice Cash instructed the jury not to find the defendant guilty of being ‘adversely affected by an intoxicating substance’ unless they could find ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ that meth caused her dangerous driving.
This could not be established, because in Queensland, there is no legal measure for how meth affects driving. This meant Ms Lutgenau received a reduced sentence of four years in prison and no drug conviction, despite testing positive for meth.
Grieving family called for law reform
Steve Dennis wrote to Queensland Attorney General Deb Frecklington pointing out this loophole and asking for a threshold level of blood methamphetamine in drivers so they are considered affected by meth in a similar way to blood alcohol levels.
This month, Minister Frecklington announced while a threshold level of meth would not be introduced, she would seek to amend the legislation so any level of meth is considered intoxication.
If her new bill passes parliament, it will mean if any level of meth is found in the system of dangerous driving offenders, it will be considered an aggravating factor, without having to prove the meth affected the driving.
Proposed law reforms will mean any level of meth is considered intoxicating. IMAGE of drug testing SUPPLIED
‘The fact that you are driving with meth in your system, that is now enough to prove that is a circumstance of aggravation,’ Minister Frecklington told a media conference.
Mr Dennis, who wrote to the Attorney General’s office in November 2025 (a week after Ms Lutgenau’s trial) said he was surprised and pleased by the quick action.
Quick action by QLD govt
‘When the AG’s office contacted me last week to inform me a bill had been drafted, I was pleasantly surprised and relieved that maybe this would result in fewer families having to go through what we did,’ Mr Dennis said.
Image of highly regarded mother of seven and Brooloo resident Kathleen Dennis SUPPLIED
‘The current bill, stating any level will be considered to be intoxication (with meth) is a sound approach.
‘It is logical and a better safeguard for the community, if any level of methamphetamine is considered to be causing an effect on driver safety,’ Mr Dennis said.
Meth imports increasing
‘I know from a reliable source that the main challenge for the AFP in South East Asia is trying to curtail the amount of methamphetamine, or ice, being smuggled into Australia. It is massive.
‘Vehicles on our roads are the most dangerous projectiles that exist in our country, killing more people than any bullets. Having ice intoxicated drivers behind the wheel of a one tonne projectile should not be allowed to occur in our culture.’
Meth use increasing
In 2025, the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) released its latest wastewater report, revealing an increase in consumption of major illicit drugs in Australia.
The report found in the past year, consumption of methamphetamine increased by 21 per cent.
ACIC CEO Heather Cook said: ‘The 2.2 tonne increase in national meth consumption is concerning… and the drug causes significant community harm’.
In Queensland the Department of Transport and Main Roads released data in 2025 showing drug drivers now caused more fatalities (49 fatalities) than drunk drivers (42 fatalities) in the past year surveyed.
IMAGE at top of story: Kathleen Dennis and husband Steve Dennis SUPPLIED
