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Queensland Budgets

State budget analysis with key initiatives, fiscal position, and accountability tracking. Plus federal budget impact on Queensland.

•Employers must now report sexual assaults and suspected sexual assaults in the workplace to the safety regulatorClauses 4 and 8Adds 'violent incident' including sexual assault to the list of notifiable incidents under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011.
•Physical assaults at work, including assault with bodily fluids, must now be reported as notifiable incidentsClauses 4 and 8Defines violent incident to include physical assault, including with bodily fluids, that exposes a person to a serious risk of psychological harm.

•Employers must take active steps to prevent discrimination and harassment in the workplace, not just respond after complaints are madeClause 25 (new Chapter 5C)Introduces a positive duty requiring persons conducting a business or undertaking to take reasonable and proportionate measures to eliminate discrimination, sexual harassment, and harassment on the basis of sex.
•Workers are protected from sex-based harassment and hostile work environments, separate from existing sexual harassment lawsClauses 18 and 22Creates new prohibitions on harassment on the basis of sex (unwelcome demeaning conduct) and subjecting a person to a work environment that is hostile on the basis of sex.

•Fuel sold in Queensland must contain minimum levels of biofuel, increasing the use of renewable ethanol and biodiesel in transport fuelsClause 7 (new sections 35DB and 35DC)E10 must contain at least 9% ethanol by volume; diesel blends must contain at least 2% biodiesel by volume.
•Stronger enforcement and higher penalties aim to ensure the biofuels mandate delivers genuine biofuel uptake rather than nominal complianceClauses 5 and 6Maximum penalties increased to 400 penalty units (first offence) and 4,000 penalty units (repeat offence).

•Complaints about Queensland lawyers will now be heard by the Supreme Court instead of QCAT, providing a higher-level forum for disciplinary mattersClause 39The Legal Services Commissioner may apply to the Supreme Court for an order against a legal practitioner, instead of applying to QCAT.
•Lawyers who successfully defend some disciplinary charges will no longer be forced to pay the full costs of proceedingsClause 44Nothing in section 462(1) requires the disciplinary body to make an order requiring the person to pay costs for conduct that was not prescribed conduct.

•First home buyers using Boost to Buy or Help to Buy shared equity programs can access the same stamp duty concessions as other buyersClauses 3-4The State/QTC and Commonwealth/Housing Australia interests are disregarded when assessing transfer duty liability and home concessions.
•Buying vacant land with a shed on it no longer disqualifies you from the first home vacant land concessionClause 5Expands the concept of vacant land to include land with non-habitable structures such as sheds, provided a new home is built separately.

•Non-state schools face less red tape when changing year levels or adding boarding, with targeted assessments replacing full accreditation reviewsClause 9NSSAB can choose a simple or complex assessment depending on the risk and complexity of the proposed change.
•Disengaged children and young people have a formal pathway back into education through recognised re-engagement programsPart 4, new Part 2A (sections 420B-420H)Five named non-government providers are prescribed to deliver education re-entry and transition service programs.