Public Guardian
Role / OfficeReferenced in 9 bills
Disability Services and Other Legislation (NDIS) Amendment Bill 2019
This bill updates Queensland's disability services laws to work alongside the national NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission, which commenced in Queensland on 1 July 2019. It ensures that important state-level protections for people with disability — including worker screening, authorisation of restrictive practices, coronial oversight of deaths in care, and community visitor programs — continue under the new national framework.
Public Trustee (Advisory and Monitoring Board) Amendment Bill 2021
This bill creates an independent advisory and monitoring board to oversee the Public Trustee of Queensland. It responds to the Public Advocate's 2021 report which found the Public Trustee needed greater transparency and accountability in how it manages the financial affairs of vulnerable Queenslanders, particularly people with impaired decision-making capacity.
Justice and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2023
This bill makes wide-ranging changes across more than 30 Queensland Acts covering the justice system, courts, the legal profession, elections, and criminal law. It introduces formal recognition of unborn children's deaths in criminal proceedings, reforms identification rules for defendants charged with sexual offences, strengthens oversight of Justices of the Peace, and modernises numerous administrative processes across Queensland's legal framework.
Strengthening Community Safety Bill 2023
This bill toughens Queensland's response to serious repeat youth offending, particularly involving stolen motor vehicles. It increases maximum penalties for unlawful use of motor vehicles to up to 14 years imprisonment, makes it a criminal offence for children to breach bail conditions, creates a new 'serious repeat offender' declaration for sentencing, and establishes multi-agency panels in legislation to coordinate support for high-risk young people.
Guardianship and Administration and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2018
This bill modernises Queensland's guardianship laws to better protect adults who cannot make decisions for themselves, while also fixing unrelated issues with government integrity and corruption reporting. It implements recommendations from the Queensland Law Reform Commission's five-year review of guardianship law and the Age Friendly Community Action Plan.
Disability Services (Restrictive Practices) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2024
This bill reforms Queensland's framework for authorising the use of restrictive practices (such as physical restraint, chemical restraint, seclusion and containment) for people with disability. It replaces the current guardianship-based system with a clinician-based model centred on a new, independent Senior Practitioner who will make all authorisation decisions. The bill also expands protections to include children with disability and aligns Queensland's approach with national NDIS standards.
Youth Justice and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2019
This bill reforms Queensland's youth justice system by creating stronger bail protections for children, reducing the time young people spend in custody on remand, and banning electronic tracking devices on children. It implements the Queensland Government's Youth Justice Strategy 2019-2023 and its principle that detention should be a last resort for young people.
Working with Children (Risk Management and Screening) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2018
This bill implements Queensland's 'No Card, No Start' policy, requiring everyone to hold a blue card (working with children clearance) before starting child-related work. It modernises the blue card application process with online applications, creates a register of home-based care services to better monitor children's safety in foster care, kinship care and family day care settings, and expands the list of offences that permanently disqualify a person from working with children.
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.