Court and Civil Legislation Amendment Bill 2017

Introduced: 23/3/2017By: Hon Y D'Ath MPStatus: PASSED with amendment

Justice & Rights Government & Elections Children & Families

This summary was generated by AI and has not yet been reviewed by a human.

Plain English Summary

This is an omnibus bill covering multiple policy areas.

Overview

This bill bundles many small justice-portfolio reforms into one Act. It speeds up how courts and tribunals work, brings Queensland's film and game classification laws in line with the national scheme, strengthens the Ombudsman, creates an automatic domestic violence notation on criminal records, and updates a long list of rules on wills, trusts, legal practice and retail shop leases.

Who it affects

Court users, lawyers, Legal Aid clients, domestic violence victims and offenders, film and game distributors, Ombudsman complainants, and people dealing with wills, trusts or retail shop leases. Emergency services officers, Justices of the Peace and community justice group members are also affected.

Faster courts and tribunals

Streamlines how QCAT, the Land Court and other courts work, and lets the Supreme Court deal with some vexatious-litigant applications on the papers.

Enforcing a QCAT decision no longer requires a certified copy from the QCAT registry
Acting magistrates can now serve until age 75, up from the previous limit
The Land Court's Land Appeal Court can enforce orders in the Supreme Court and award costs for earlier hearings
Applications for leave by people already declared vexatious litigants can be decided without an oral hearing

National classification scheme alignment

Updates Queensland's film, game and publication classification laws to match 2014 Commonwealth reforms and removes the unused state 'classification officer' roles.

Recognises automated 'approved classification tools' that can classify content without the full Classification Board meeting
New cultural exemption for unclassified films, games or publications shown at registered festivals or approved cultural institutions
Expanded list of permissible modifications so modified films and games do not need to be reclassified
State-level classification officer positions and state exemption schemes are removed

Stronger Ombudsman powers

Gives the Ombudsman more tools to protect whistleblowers, get information, and follow up on council complaints.

New offence with a 100 penalty unit maximum for retaliating against anyone who complains or helps the Ombudsman
The Ombudsman can require councils to table Ombudsman reports at a council meeting
Criminal history checks are required for anyone wanting to work for the Ombudsman's office
Self-incrimination is no longer a reasonable excuse to refuse to comply with an Ombudsman investigation

Automatic domestic violence notations

Changes how domestic violence offences are recorded so courts do not have to make a separate order each time.

If a charge is noted as a domestic violence offence and the person is convicted, the notation is added to their criminal history automatically
Courts can order that a notation not be made if they are not satisfied it is a domestic violence offence
The prosecution must prove that an offence is a domestic violence offence
Domestic violence notations do not apply to traffic history

Legal profession and Legal Aid updates

Modernises rules for lawyers, incorporated legal practices and the Legal Aid Queensland CEO role.

The Legal Aid Queensland CEO no longer has to be a lawyer, as long as they are appropriately qualified
Incorporated legal practices can be members of the Queensland Law Society, and going into external administration is a 'show cause' event for their practitioner directors
Government legal officers employed in public service offices do not need a current practising certificate for their work
Bills for legal costs can be sent electronically when the client consents

Privacy and emergency communications

Creates narrow exceptions to privacy and listening-device rules for national security and officer safety.

Agencies can disclose personal information to ASIO if ASIO requests it in writing for its statutory functions
Police, ambulance and fire communications operators can remotely activate a radio's 'open mic' without breaching listening-device laws where there is a safety risk to an officer
New safeguards require criminal history information held by the Ombudsman to be destroyed when no longer needed

Wills, trusts and property

Clarifies a handful of civil-law rules about wills, trust delegations and contracts over property.

Stepchild status ends in defined circumstances for the purpose of family provision claims after a death
Ending a de facto relationship revokes certain gifts in the surviving partner's will, similar to divorce
Trustees can delegate administration of a trust using the standard power-of-attorney form (no deed required)
Most regulations and by-laws can no longer automatically void or end a property contract that breaches them

Retail shop leases and technical cleanup

Permanently restores tenant protections in the Retail Shop Leases Act and makes many small modernising changes across other Acts.

The Retail Shop Leases Act keeps applying to pre-November 2016 leases over 1000m2 and to leases held by the landlord's employee or agent
Tenants' right to end a lease over a defective disclosure statement is reinstated after being inadvertently removed
Appointments of Justices of the Peace, community justice group members and many forms are published online instead of in the Government Gazette
Five superseded companies Acts from the early 1980s are repealed

How this affects you

Justice & Rights

•If you win a case at QCAT, enforcing the decision becomes simpler because you no longer need a certified copy from the QCAT registryClause 217 (new ss 131-132)A copy of a QCAT final decision filed in the registry of a court is taken to be a money or non-money order of that court and may be enforced accordingly.
•If you are convicted of a domestic violence offence, the conviction will now be marked as such on your criminal history automatically, without the court needing to make a separate orderClause 189Allows domestic violence notations to be administratively made where the charge has been noted as a domestic violence offence, unless the court orders otherwise.
•If you complain to the Queensland Ombudsman, it is now an offence for someone to threaten or retaliate against you, with a maximum penalty of 100 penalty unitsClause 177Replaces section 47 so that a person must not cause or threaten detriment to another because they have, or may, complain to or help the Ombudsman.
•If you have been declared a vexatious litigant, the Supreme Court can now dismiss your applications for leave without holding an oral hearingClause 255Allows the Supreme Court to dismiss applications under section 12 on the papers, with the order and reasons given to the applicant.

Government & Elections

•Appointments of Justices of the Peace, Commissioners for Declarations and community justice group members will be published on government websites instead of the Queensland Government GazetteClauses 4, 135-139Replaces gazette notification with publication on the Queensland Courts or Queensland Government website.
•Queensland agencies can now disclose your personal information to ASIO for national security purposes when ASIO makes a written request signed by its Director-GeneralClause 129Adds an exception to Information Privacy Principle 11 where ASIO certifies in writing that the information is required for its statutory functions.
•The Queensland Ombudsman can now direct a council to table an Ombudsman report at a council meeting, putting it on the public recordClause 180New section 50 allows the Ombudsman to direct the principal officer of a local government to table a report at a local government meeting.
•Acting magistrates can now serve until age 75, up from the previous lower limit, helping the courts manage workloadClause 167Amends section 6 of the Magistrates Act to increase the age limit for acting magistrates to 75 years.

Children & Families

•The Public Guardian's protections for children in the child protection system now start as soon as a court application is filed and continue until the matter is resolvedClause 214Clarifies that the term 'relevant child' in section 52 applies from the time an application is filed with the Childrens Court and continues until arrangements are no longer in place.
•A stepchild's right to claim from a deceased step-parent's estate is now more clearly defined for step-relationships that come from de facto (non-marriage) spousal relationshipsClause 247Amends section 40A of the Succession Act to clarify when a step-relationship ends for family provision applications in non-marriage spousal situations.
•The term 'child abuse photograph' has been removed from classification laws because a single image is now covered by the broader definition of 'child abuse publication', simplifying the offences that protect childrenClauses 88-92Removes 'child abuse photograph' from multiple offences as the definition of 'publication' now includes single images.

Bill Journey

Introduced23 Mar 2017

First Reading

Committee

Committee Report15 May 2017

Committee report tabled

Second Reading

In Detail

Third Reading

Royal Assent5 June 2017

Referenced Entities

Legislation

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities (Justice, Land and Other Matters) Act 1984 Acts Interpretation Act 1954 Anti-Discrimination Act 1991 Appeal Costs Fund Act 1973 Civil Proceedings Act 2011 Classification of Computer Games and Images Act 1995 Classification of Films Act 1991 Classification of Publications Act 1991 Court Funds Act 1973 Criminal Code Act 1899 Evidence Act 1977 Information Privacy Act 2009 Invasion of Privacy Act 1971 Justices of the Peace and Commissioners for Declarations Act 1991 Land Court Act 2000 Legal Aid Queensland Act 1997 Legal Profession Act 2007 Magistrates Act 1991 Ombudsman Act 2001 Penalties and Sentences Act 1992 Professional Standards Act 2004 Property Law Act 1974 Prostitution Act 1999 Public Guardian Act 2014 Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2009 Retail Shop Leases Act 1994 Right to Information Act 2009 Succession Act 1981 Supreme Court Library Act 1968 Trusts Act 1973 Vexatious Proceedings Act 2005 Child Protection Act 1999 Public Service Act 2008 Powers of Attorney Act 1998

Organisations

Sectors Affected

Legal Services Public Administration Civil Law Courts Legal Aid

Classified using AGIFT/ANZSIC Australian government standards