Health and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2018
Plain English Summary
Overview
This bill makes a range of amendments to health and other portfolio legislation. It repeals Queensland's separate medicinal cannabis approval process in favour of the Commonwealth system, creates a register to track occupational dust lung diseases like black lung and silicosis, gives Queensland Health new powers to require public notification of pollution events, streamlines radiation safety licensing, clarifies rules for tissue removal in medical research including for children, and ensures retirement village residents with freehold units receive payment within 18 months of leaving.
Who it affects
Patients accessing medicinal cannabis, coal miners and engineered stone workers with dust lung diseases, communities affected by pollution events, and approximately 2,201 freehold retirement village unit holders across Queensland are most directly affected.
Medicinal cannabis
Repeals the Public Health (Medicinal Cannabis) Act 2016 and treats medicinal cannabis like other controlled medicines under existing Commonwealth and state frameworks. This removes Queensland's duplicate approval process that required separate state approvals for doctors, pharmacists, researchers, and interstate patients.
- Queensland's separate medicinal cannabis approval process is abolished
- Medicinal cannabis is now regulated like other schedule 8 medicines under the Health Act 1937
- Pharmacists no longer need individual dispensing approvals for medicinal cannabis
- Researchers no longer need separate state approval for clinical trials involving medicinal cannabis
Occupational dust lung disease tracking
Creates a Notifiable Dust Lung Disease Register under the Public Health Act 2005, following recommendations from the Coal Workers' Pneumoconiosis Select Committee. Medical practitioners must report diagnosed cases of occupational dust lung diseases including coal workers' pneumoconiosis and silicosis to Queensland Health.
- New Notifiable Dust Lung Disease Register established to track cases of black lung, silicosis, and other occupational lung diseases
- Prescribed medical practitioners must report diagnoses to Queensland Health (maximum penalty of 20 penalty units for non-compliance)
- Queensland Health can request dust lung disease data from other government agencies to maintain a complete register
- Annual report on the register must be tabled in Parliament
Pollution event public notices
Gives Queensland Health new powers to respond to pollution events by requiring the responsible person to publish a pollution notice informing the public of health risks. If the polluter cannot be identified or does not comply, Queensland Health can publish the notice directly.
- Chief executive of Queensland Health can direct a polluter to publish a pollution notice (maximum penalty of 200 penalty units for non-compliance)
- Queensland Health can publish the notice itself if the polluter cannot be found or does not comply
- Compensation is available for loss arising from accidental, negligent, or unlawful exercise of these powers
Radiation safety licensing
Creates a new 'prescribed licensee' category so that professionals already assessed as suitable through registration or interstate licences are deemed to hold a Queensland radiation licence, reducing duplicate paperwork.
- New prescribed licensee category for persons already assessed as suitable to use or transport radiation sources
- Minister must consult the Radiation Advisory Council before prescribing new licensee categories
Medical research and tissue regulation
Clarifies the rules for removing tissue from adults and children for research, expands exemptions for pathology laboratories purchasing tissue-based materials, and allows hospital post-mortems to be conducted outside the mortuary using imaging equipment.
- Children can now clearly participate in clinical trials involving tissue removal, with extra safeguards
- Pathology laboratories no longer need a ministerial permit to purchase tissue-based reagents and quality assurance materials
- Hospital post-mortems can be conducted outside the mortuary, enabling use of imaging equipment like CT scans
- Body parts used at schools of anatomy can be lawfully cremated without a death certificate
Retirement village freehold unit buyback
Requires retirement village operators to purchase a former resident's freehold unit within 18 months if it remains unsold, closing a gap in the 2017 amendments that did not clearly cover freehold tenure. Approximately 2,201 freehold units (7.4% of all retirement village units) are affected.
- Scheme operators must buy back unsold freehold units within 18 months of the resident leaving (maximum penalty of 540 penalty units)
- No sales commission is payable on the mandatory buyback
- Operators can apply to QCAT for an extension if the buyback would cause undue financial hardship
- Transfer duty exemption applies to the mandatory buyback transaction
- Provisions apply retrospectively to ensure existing freehold residents have the same protections as other tenure types
Bill Story
The journey of this bill through Parliament, including debate and recorded votes.
▸Introduced13 Nov 2018View Hansard
Vote on a motion
This division appears to be misassociated with this section. The section contains only the introduction and first reading of the Health and Other Legislation Amendment Bill (which passed unopposed) followed by Address-in-Reply speeches unrelated to the bill.
The motion was rejected.
A formal vote on whether to accept a proposal — this could be the bill itself, an amendment, or another motion.
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Ayes (39)
Noes (50)
▸Committee13 Nov 2018View Hansard
Referred to Health, Communities, Disability Services and Domestic and Family Violence Prevention Committee
The Health, Communities, Disability Services and Domestic and Family Violence Prevention Committee examined this omnibus health bill over three months, receiving 42 submissions plus 82 form submissions and holding a public hearing on 24 January 2019. The committee recommended the bill be passed. While most amendments attracted broad support, the proposed changes to the Retirement Villages Act 1999 — requiring operators to buy back freehold units after 18 months — were contested by industry groups and prompted a Statement of Reservation from LNP members of the committee.
Key findings (5)
- Stakeholders broadly supported repealing the Public Health (Medicinal Cannabis) Act 2016 to remove unnecessary duplication of Commonwealth TGA approval processes, making medicinal cannabis more accessible to patients
- The proposed Notifiable Dust Lung Disease Register received strong support from medical bodies and affected workers, particularly in response to emerging cases of silicosis in the engineered stone benchtop industry
- The Property Council of Australia and retirement village operators raised significant concerns about requiring mandatory buy-back of freehold units, arguing it amounted to compulsory acquisition and was fundamentally different from leasehold arrangements
- Amendments to the Transplantation and Anatomy Act were supported as common-sense changes to clarify tissue removal for paediatric research, reduce administrative burden on pathology laboratories, and allow non-invasive post-mortem techniques
- The Local Government Association of Queensland raised concerns about pollution event notification powers, including the lack of a legislated contamination threshold and potential conflicts with disaster management reporting
Recommendations (1)
- The committee recommends the Health and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2018 be passed.
Committee report tabled
▸Second Reading3 Apr 2019View Hansard
That the amendment be agreed to
Vote on the LNP's reasoned amendment moved by Mr Bleijie to withdraw and redraft the bill to remove the retirement villages provisions (Part 9) into a separate bill. The amendment was defeated 39-46.
The motion was defeated.
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Ayes (39)
Noes (46)
That government business order of the day No. 3 be postponed
Procedural vote to postpone government business in order to manage the legislative program, carried by the government.
The motion passed.
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Ayes (45)
Noes (40)
Vote on a motion
Vote on the second reading of the bill, which was agreed to. The bill then passed through consideration in detail (all clauses agreed without amendment) and third reading.
The motion was rejected.
A formal vote on whether to accept a proposal — this could be the bill itself, an amendment, or another motion.
▸Show individual votesHide individual votes
Ayes (38)
Noes (47)
▸19 members spoke8 support11 mixed
As Minister for Health, introduced the bill and defended all its provisions including the retirement villages amendments, arguing the bill ensures Queensland's health legislation keeps pace with clinical practice and protects Queenslanders.
“With this bill, we are making sure that seriously ill Queenslanders will have faster access to medicinal cannabis under new laws that will make the prescription process easier.”— 2019-04-03View Hansard
Moved a reasoned amendment to withdraw the bill and redraft it to remove the retirement villages provisions into a separate bill, arguing they do not belong in a health bill and were needed to fix the housing minister's errors.
“It is a health bill, not a retirement village freehold bill. That is why it is important that we discuss and debate the health provisions of the bill.”— 2019-04-03View Hansard
As Minister for Housing, defended the retirement villages amendments as ensuring certainty and financial security for all retirees regardless of tenure type, and rejected the opposition's reasoned amendment.
“It sends this message: it is totally unacceptable to expect our most senior citizens and their families to wait and wait for their funds.”— 2019-04-03View Hansard
As shadow health minister, stated the LNP will not oppose the bill but opposed the retirement villages amendments, supporting the health-related provisions including medicinal cannabis and silicosis register changes.
“From the outset I want to make clear that the LNP will not be opposing this bill. However, we do oppose the changes in this bill that amend the Retirement Villages Act and have nothing to do with health.”— 2019-04-03View Hansard
Spoke in support of the bill in its entirety as a committee member, outlining the amendments to medicinal cannabis, dust lung disease register, and retirement villages provisions.
“In summary, this amendment makes it easier to access medicinal cannabis in Queensland.”— 2019-04-03View Hansard
Supported the health provisions but strongly opposed the retirement villages amendments, arguing they would impose an impossible financial burden on residents of freehold retirement villages who may be required to buy out departing neighbours.
“We support the health bill, but we will not support the Retirement Villages Act amendments.”— 2019-04-03View Hansard
Spoke in support of the bill as a committee member, highlighting the health reforms and the consumer protection benefits of the retirement villages amendments.
“Delivering fabulous health outcomes is something that this side of the House does well.”— 2019-04-03View Hansard
Supported the bill overall but strongly opposed Part 9 retirement villages amendments, arguing they impose compulsory acquisition on freehold title owners and that the minister failed to draft the 2017 amendments correctly.
“What this government is doing is imposing what is in essence a compulsory acquisition regime on freehold title owners.”— 2019-04-03View Hansard
Spoke in support of the bill focusing on the retirement villages amendments, highlighting the real pain and suffering caused by lengthy delays in receiving exit entitlements.
“We heard stories of people who had exited the retirement village and moved into aged-care facilities and were under additional personal stress given the lengthy delays in the sale of their retirement unit.”— 2019-04-03View Hansard
Supported the health provisions and the amendment to split the bill, but opposed the retirement villages freehold buyback amendments as placing an unreasonable burden on resident-operated villages.
“To make retirement village operators, particularly those that are owned by the residents, responsible for buying back freehold property places an unreasonable burden on them.”— 2019-04-03View Hansard
Spoke in support of the bill including the retirement villages amendments, drawing on his nursing background to argue retirement villages are an important part of the health system and rejecting the opposition's amendment to split the bill.
“I utterly reject the notion that retirement villages have no relevance to the health system.”— 2019-04-03View Hansard
Supported the bill including the medicinal cannabis changes and retirement villages amendments, while calling for broader cannabis legalisation and an amnesty for those criminalised for accessing medicinal cannabis.
“Under the watch of a government regulator, we could allow people to grow cannabis for personal or medicinal use or purchase a quality controlled product from licensed retailers.”— 2019-04-03View Hansard
Supported the amendment to split the bill and opposed the retirement villages freehold buyback provisions, sharing a constituent's story of being entrapped by a retirement village contract after her husband's death.
“The way to fix one wrongdoing should not be to impose another wrongdoing on another party.”— 2019-04-03View Hansard
Did not oppose the bill overall but opposed Part 9 retirement villages amendments, supporting the amendment to split the bill.
“The LNP does not oppose the bill, but we oppose part 9 of the bill in relation to changes to the Retirement Villages Act.”— 2019-04-03View Hansard
As Minister for Transport, spoke in support of the bill highlighting the medicinal cannabis reforms, dust lung disease register, and pollution event powers, and rejected the amendment to split the bill.
“The Palaszczuk government is absolutely committed to ensuring that Queensland's health legislation is serving the needs of Queenslanders as medicines advance, as knowledge grows and as science grows.”— 2019-04-03View Hansard
Did not oppose the bill overall but supported the amendment to remove Part 9, arguing freehold retirement village buyback provisions are bad law that will disadvantage small resident-operated villages.
“I do support a requirement that a buyback occur for large corporate retirement villages. However, we have heard already that this bill captures minnows.”— 2019-04-03View Hansard
Supported the vast majority of the bill's health amendments but supported the opposition's amendment to deal with Part 9 retirement villages provisions separately due to concerns about financial implications for body corporate-structured villages.
“Whilst I support the vast majority of proposed amendments in this bill and appreciate the assurances regarding retirement villages provided by the minister, the concerns regarding the potential financial implications to retirement village residents needs to be mitigated.”— 2019-04-03View Hansard
Welcomed the medicinal cannabis changes but opposed the retirement villages amendments as attempting to correct a ministerial blunder, arguing they should be dealt with separately from the health bill.
“Retirement village operators in Queensland should not be forced to buy back a freehold unit from a resident.”— 2019-04-03View Hansard
Supported the medicinal cannabis reforms and streamlining of the prescription process, but his speech was cut short by the guillotine. The LNP's overall position was to not oppose the bill while opposing Part 9.
“It is really important that we continue to progress the medicinal cannabis act reforms and the state based regime that allows patients to access medicinal cannabis.”— 2019-04-03View Hansard