Chief Health Officer
Role / OfficeReferenced in 12 bills
Public Health and Other Legislation (Extension of Expiring Provisions) Amendment Bill 2020
This bill extended Queensland's COVID-19 emergency powers from 31 December 2020 until 30 September 2021. It maintained the Chief Health Officer's ability to issue public health directions, continued hotel quarantine cost recovery, and preserved emergency provisions in the Mental Health Act.
Corrective Services (Emerging Technologies and Security) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2022
This bill modernises Queensland's corrective services and youth detention laws to address emerging security threats and improve emergency preparedness. It creates new criminal offences for flying drones over prisons and youth detention centres, authorises x-ray body scanners and surveillance devices, overhauls the emergency declaration framework to cover disasters and pandemics, and strengthens information sharing between corrective services and partner agencies.
COVID-19 Emergency Response and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2020
This bill extends Queensland's COVID-19 emergency response legislation from 31 December 2020 to 30 April 2021, keeping temporary measures in place across tenancy, courts, health and other areas. It also makes standalone reforms to support artisan distillers, reform local government vacancy processes, and enable COVID-safe by-elections.
COVID-19 Emergency Response Bill 2020
This bill was Queensland's second emergency legislative response to the COVID-19 pandemic, passed in April 2020. It created temporary powers to protect residential and commercial tenants from eviction, enabled Parliament and courts to operate remotely, established a Small Business Commissioner, and allowed legal documents to be witnessed electronically. All provisions expired on 31 December 2020.
Public Health and Other Legislation (Extension of Expiring Provisions) Amendment Bill 2022
This bill extended Queensland's core COVID-19 public health emergency powers from 30 April 2022 to 31 October 2022 (or earlier if the Health Minister ended the emergency), while allowing most other pandemic-era modifications to business, court, and local government processes to expire. It preserved the Chief Health Officer's ability to issue public health directions such as mask mandates, quarantine requirements, and gathering restrictions, and continued COVID-19 measures in corrective services, disaster management, and mental health settings.
Justice and Other Legislation (COVID-19 Emergency Response) Amendment Bill 2020
This bill amends over 20 Queensland Acts to respond to the COVID-19 public health emergency. It provides temporary financial relief for workers, businesses, body corporate owners, and local governments, adjusts operational rules for health, disability, corrective services, and youth detention facilities, and creates new enforcement powers including court-ordered COVID-19 testing of people who cough, sneeze, or spit on others during an offence. Most provisions expired on 31 December 2020.
Public Health and Other Legislation (Public Health Emergency) Amendment Bill 2020
This bill gave the Queensland Government broad emergency powers to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. It strengthened the Chief Health Officer's ability to issue enforceable public health directions, introduced on-the-spot fines for non-compliance, provided flexibility for elections and planning processes, and allowed Executive Council meetings to be held remotely. Most emergency provisions included a one-year sunset clause.
Public Health and Other Legislation (Further Extension of Expiring Provisions) Amendment Bill 2021
This bill extends Queensland's temporary COVID-19 emergency laws from 30 September 2021 to 30 April 2022. It keeps in place the Chief Health Officer's powers to issue public health directions, require quarantine, and restrict movement, while also reforming the quarantine fee system to allow prepayment by prescribed traveller cohorts and third-party liability for fees.
Medicines and Poisons Bill 2019
This bill repeals Queensland's 80-year-old medicines and poisons laws and replaces them with a single modern framework. It streamlines licensing for businesses that manufacture, wholesale or sell medicines and poisons, introduces real-time monitoring of prescriptions for opioids and other dependence-forming drugs, and makes it easier for GPs to prescribe medicinal cannabis.
Health and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2018
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.
COVID-19 Emergency Response and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2021
This bill extends Queensland's temporary COVID-19 emergency laws until 30 September 2021, continuing protections and flexible arrangements across tenancy, courts, corrections, gaming, and other areas. It also gives local governments new powers to adjust rates mid-year, hold COVID-safe by-elections, and continue remote council meetings.
Public Health and Other Legislation (COVID-19 Management) Amendment Bill 2022
This bill wound back Queensland's broad COVID-19 emergency powers and replaced them with a smaller set of temporary public health powers that expired on 31 October 2023. It allowed the Chief Health Officer to continue issuing directions about isolation, quarantine, masks and vaccination of workers in high-risk settings, but removed powers for border closures, lockdowns, gathering restrictions and general vaccination requirements.