Parliamentary committee hearings are sometimes dry, technical and procedural but the Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee was far from that on Wednesday morning.

There were tears and tissues and members of the committee repeatedly prefaced their questions with statements of condolence for victims and condemnation of perpetrators of domestic violence.

The LNP introduced a bill which would reverse the onus of proof for bail for domestic violence-related offences.

It would also mean offenders could be ordered to wear GPS trackers if granted bail and mandatory reporting when a prisoner applies for and receives parole.

The new bill came after the deaths of several women, including the murder of Gold Coast mum Teresa Bradford by her estranged husband while he was on bail.

Bonnie Mobbs, mother of Shelsea Schilling, who was killed by her ex-partner, said her family should have been notified that the perpetrator was being released from jail.

"Even if it was just one day before as to his whereabouts, our daughter would still be alive today," Ms Mobbs said.

"We believe if there was a GPS on him, the tragic death of our daughter would not have happened.

"A piece of paper cannot and will not protect a human life.

"We need harsher penalties put in place before another victim is dead, like our daughter Shelsea."

Committee member Jann Stuckey challenged witnesses at one point on what they would say to victims' families.

"What we have before us is a very legitimate attempt to save lives with this bill," Ms Stuckey said.

"What do you say to the victims' families who fully support the provisions in this bill?

"Because they want to see some action, they don't want to hear that we haven't got money, that we haven't got resources, diversionary projects take years, what do you say to those families affected?"

Earlier, Queensland Law Society immediate past president Bill Potts had pointed out the potential costs of GPS tracking, prison costs and already overloaded courts - and said they needed to be balanced against the effectiveness of proposed measures.

"No one says that this is a perfect system but for the cost, for example of putting somebody into a watchhouse or a prison, we do know that nature of that, it's $175 a day," he said.

"We need more money right across the system."

Mr Potts said the QLS was concerned about the cost and effectiveness of GPS trackers, and said they could create a false sense of security.

He said they could be useful if a person was approaching a house, but if they were approaching another public place where the victim was, it would not send an alert "unless you are also monitoring them".

Mr Potts also pointed out it would require maintenance and monitoring 24/7.

He said there was not enough money around for drug diversion and domestic violence courses.

Mr Potts was also concerned with the reversal of onus of proof.

He said the QLS was broadly supportive of some parts of the LNP's bill and he suspected "everybody is in furious agreement that DV is something that has to be tackled".

"Better reporting and better protection is quite frankly a no brainer," he said.

Mr Potts said there was also very little investment in courses for perpetrators.

"If we don't do something about the causes, we're doomed to repeat the same things over and over," he said.

Committee chair Duncan Pegg asked several witnesses if they were concerned at the timeframe for consultation and many agreed.

He also queried the cost of introducing the GPS trackers and was unable to get a concrete answer.

Queensland Law Society president Christine Smyth pointed out there was an "exceptionally short time frame" for comment on the bill.

"It is unfortunate due to the important nature of the subject matter," she said.

Mr Potts said that may mean the legislation had "unintended consequences" there was not enough time to consider.

However, committee member Michael Crandon said: "One of the unintended consequences of what is happening now is that people are dying."

Mr Crandon said he believed GPS monitoring should be a last resort.

"To my mind, if they are that violent, then perhaps they need to be kept behind bars," he said.

Mr Potts said the Parliament needed a considered response rather than making laws that were ineffective and expensive.

"Everything we can do doesn't simply mean throwing money at a problem... It's a matter of doing things that will have real effect rather than, quite frankly, make people feel good. It has to actually do good," Mr Potts said.

Ms Stuckey appeared upset and responded: "That is a bit insulting - things that make people feel good."

She said: "If we're all in agreement that the safety of the victim is paramount, isn't it worth trying the measures in this bill?"

Sonia Anderson, whose daughter Bianca Girven was murdered by her boyfriend, asked for Parliament to pass the bill.

"You should be in a position to pass this bill, you shouldn't be asking for more time - people are dying," Ms Anderson said, crying at times during the hearing.

Ms Anderson said she found it upsetting when people were talking about the cost and thanked Ms Stuckey for speaking up.

Ted Flack, from the Queensland Homicide Victims' Support Group, said each year about half of the 50 to 60 murders, on average, were domestic violence-related.

"The killing must stop," Mr Flack said.

Mr Flack said he was not sure if all the provisions in the bill would work or produce the right results.

"But at least it is an initiative to try and stop the killing," he said.

Women's Legal Service's Angela Lynch said it was time for action but she believed reversing the onus of proof in bail should only be for high risk cases.

"I think there's unintended consequences if it's much broader than that - we will see women imprisoned and they're not dangerous perpetrators," she said.

Committee member Jon Krause also raised whether it would be useful to introduce a specific offence of domestic violence.

Currently, perpetrators are charged with other offences, and can be charged for breaching domestic violence orders in place to protect victims.

Opposition Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence spokeswoman Ros Bates said she cared about the issue because she knew what it felt like to be scared in her own home.

"I know what it feels like to be beaten by someone who is suppose to protect you," she said.

Ms Bates said the current laws were not strong enough.

"Every DV shelter I've visited tell me the system is not working," she said.

Opposition Justice spokesman Ian Walker said urgent changes were needed to rebalance the scales of justice in favour of community safety.

"This is often a matter of life and death," Mr Walker said.

Mr Walker was asked about the costs of GPS tracking and denying more people bail, but he said the benefits of the legislation outweighed the costs.