Major Sports Facilities and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2025
Bill Journey
Referred to State Development, Infrastructure and Works Committee
Plain English Summary
Overview
This bill makes several changes to Queensland's major sports facilities and major events laws. It allows Gold Coast stadiums to host concerts until 10:30pm (matching Suncorp Stadium), significantly increases penalties for ticket scalping, and modernises Stadiums Queensland's board governance arrangements.
Who it affects
Concert-goers on the Gold Coast will have better access to major shows, stadium operators gain competitive parity with Brisbane, and ticket scalpers face much higher penalties while buyers of scalped tickets are no longer committing an offence.
Gold Coast concert regulations
Removes liquor licensing and local law restrictions that effectively limited concerts at Carrara/People First Stadium and Robina/Cbus Super Stadium to finishing by 10pm. This brings Gold Coast stadiums in line with Suncorp Stadium's 10:30pm finish time, making them more attractive for touring artists.
- Concerts at Gold Coast stadiums can run until 10:30pm instead of 10pm
- Noise from concerts regulated under state law rather than liquor licensing
- Environmental Protection Act compliance deemed met if prescribed conditions followed
- Community consultation showed 77% support for consistent concert curfews across venues
Ticket scalping penalties
Substantially increases maximum penalties for selling tickets above 10% of original price, aligning Queensland with other Australian states. The offence for buying scalped tickets is removed to encourage reporting.
- Maximum penalty for scalping increased to 135 penalty units for individuals, 680 for corporations
- No longer an offence to buy a scalped ticket (previously 10 penalty units)
- Infringement notice fine increased from 2 to 13 penalty units
- Applies to both major sports facility events and declared major events
Stadiums Queensland governance
Modernises board governance arrangements including qualifications for directors, ability to appoint a deputy chairperson, and clearer disqualification and vacancy provisions.
- Governor in Council can now appoint a deputy chairperson to the board
- Directors must have relevant qualifications or 3+ years experience in specified fields
- Clear disqualification criteria: indictable offence convictions, insolvency, or corporate management bans
- Removes previous provision allowing termination 'for any reason or none'
Technical updates
Minor updates to definitions and regulatory flexibility for multi-day events.
- Drones now explicitly included under 'aircraft' for advertising restrictions
- Major Events Act clarified for events spanning multiple days and areas