WorkCover Queensland
OrganisationReferenced in 9 bills
Personal Injuries Proceedings and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2022
This bill cracks down on 'claim farming' — the practice of cold-calling people to pressure them into making personal injury or workers' compensation claims, then selling their details to law firms. It also tightens rules on legal billing in personal injury cases, confirms when terminally ill workers can access lump sum compensation, and fixes technical issues with Queensland's political donation caps.
Emergency Services Reform Amendment Bill 2023
This bill makes the administrative and legal changes needed to restructure Queensland's emergency services following independent reviews. It transfers the State Emergency Service and the new Marine Rescue Queensland under the Queensland Police Service, establishes a State Disaster Management Group chaired by the Premier for faster disaster response, and updates more than a dozen laws to reflect the new arrangements. The reforms are backed by $578 million in funding over five years.
State Emergency Service Bill 2023
This bill establishes the Queensland State Emergency Service (SES) as a standalone organisation under its own Act, replacing provisions previously contained in the Fire and Emergency Services Act 1990. It is part of a major reform of Queensland's emergency services that places the SES under the Queensland Police Service Commissioner and provides a dedicated legislative framework recognising the organisation's critical role in disaster response.
Marine Rescue Queensland Bill 2023
This bill establishes Marine Rescue Queensland (MRQ) as a single, statewide marine rescue service, replacing the two existing volunteer organisations that currently provide marine rescue in Queensland. It places MRQ under the Queensland Police Service and creates a clear command structure from state to local level, with standardised training, equipment, and operations.
Community Services Industry (Portable Long Service Leave) Bill 2019
This bill creates a portable long service leave scheme for Queensland's community services industry. It allows workers who frequently change employers within the sector — due to short-term funding arrangements and contract-based employment — to accumulate long service leave credits across the industry rather than losing entitlements with each job change. The bill also fixes a loophole in the Industrial Relations Act 2016 so that employees dismissed due to illness are entitled to pro rata long service leave.
Workers' Compensation and Rehabilitation and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2020
This bill makes it easier for first responders to claim workers' compensation for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It creates a presumptive system where PTSD in eligible workers is automatically assumed to be caused by their work, removing the burden on injured workers to prove the connection. This responds to evidence from Beyond Blue and other reviews that first responders experience mental health conditions at substantially higher rates than the general workforce.
Workers' Compensation and Rehabilitation and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2019
This bill makes a range of improvements to Queensland's workers' compensation scheme following a five-yearly independent review, strengthens protections for apprentices and trainees, requires Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander representation on the TAFE Queensland Board, and repeals the now-redundant Commonwealth Games Arrangements Act 2011.
Mines Legislation (Resources Safety) Amendment Bill 2018
This bill strengthens safety and health protections for workers across Queensland's coal mining, metalliferous mining, and quarrying industries. It was driven in part by the re-identification of coal workers' pneumoconiosis (black lung disease) and introduces higher penalties, new corporate accountability obligations, improved contractor management, expanded health surveillance, and stronger enforcement powers for mine inspectors.
Workers’ Compensation and Rehabilitation and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2024
This bill reforms Queensland's workers' compensation scheme based on a five-yearly independent review. It strengthens rehabilitation and return-to-work requirements, expands cancer coverage for firefighters, creates faster weekly payments for injured workers, introduces new enforcement tools, and lays groundwork for future gig worker coverage. It also increases flexible parental leave and adds superannuation as a Queensland employment standard.