A group of 13 Extinction Rebellion protesters will not face a hearing on whether they are guilty of disrupting Queensland's Parliament until at least February next year.
The criminal case could also be affected by a 14th defendant mounting a challenge as to whether the law containing the charge of disrupting the legislature was properly enacted at the time of the alleged offences.
Environmental Defenders Office solicitor Alexander Edye represented 13 of the defendants during a mention of the case in Brisbane Magistrates Court on Monday.
Mr Edye told the court he did not think the hearing would take more than a day as the court would have to consider the same issues for all the defendants.
"It's one case for all matters, they are all charged with the same offence," Mr Edye said.
On November 30 last year, the protesters allegedly used a balcony that overlooks the chamber to unfurl banners demanding an end to fossil fuel use.
Their chants of "stop coal, stop gas" forced MPs to suspend parliamentary proceedings for three minutes and the defendants now face up to three years' jail if convicted.
Police prosecutor Martin Payne on Monday told Deputy Chief Magistrate Anthony Gett he would need time to check for the availability of witnesses for a proposed hearing date.
Mr Edye said he was still waiting for a judgment from Magistrate Joseph Pinder on a challenge to the validity of the law prohibiting disruptions to parliament brought by Lee Ann Coaldrake, the 14th defendant.
All 14 defendants had been due to face a hearing on October 23 but Mr Pinder refused to deal with all of them in the one case as he said the proper application had not been filed.
Ms Coaldrake pleaded not guilty to disrupting the legislature but her hearing did not go ahead as her barrister Andrew Hoare, as well as Sergeant Payne, made submissions contesting which law was in force at the time of her alleged offending.
Mr Edye told the court on Monday that he did not know whether Mr Pinder had reached a decision on the validity of the charges.
"We heard (Mr Pinder) might have made a decision before today but it was not guaranteed. The file is still in His Honour's chambers," Mr Edye said.
Mr Gett said the next available date for a hearing on charges against the 13 defendants was on February 22, 2024 or afterwards and set the case to return to court for a mention on November 29.
