local government
IndustryReferenced in 17 bills
Local Government Electoral (Implementing Stage 1 of Belcarra) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2018
This bill bans political donations from property developers to politicians and political parties at both State and local government levels in Queensland. It also strengthens the rules for how local councillors must declare and manage conflicts of interest. The reforms implement the Government's response to the Crime and Corruption Commission's Operation Belcarra report, which investigated corruption risks in local government following the 2016 council elections.
Electoral and Other Legislation (Accountability, Integrity and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2019
This bill reforms Queensland's electoral and integrity laws to reduce the influence of money in politics and strengthen accountability for elected officials. It caps political donations and election spending, restricts signage at polling booths, creates new criminal offences for Ministers and councillors who dishonestly hide conflicts of interest, and establishes a statutory framework for political staff (councillor advisors) in local government.
Land Valuation Amendment Bill 2023
This bill updates Queensland's land valuation system to keep pace with an increasingly complex property market. It gives the valuer-general new powers to issue binding guidelines, streamlines the objection process so all landowners are treated equally regardless of property value, and gives farmers more choice over how their land is valued.
Local Government (Dissolution of Ipswich City Council) Bill 2018
This bill dissolved Ipswich City Council and removed all councillors from office following a Crime and Corruption Commission investigation that found serious, long-running corruption and governance failures. An interim administrator was appointed with full council and mayoral powers to run the council until Ipswich residents could elect new councillors at the 2020 local government elections.
Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2024
This bill reforms Queensland's rental laws to strengthen protections for renters, stabilise rents and ease cost-of-living pressures. It also introduces mandatory continuing professional development for property agents, removes compulsory superannuation contributions for local government employees, and fixes technical issues with community titles scheme terminations.
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.
Crime and Corruption and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2024
This bill reforms the Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC) following several review reports that found problems with the agency's powers, culture and oversight. It streamlines the CCC's investigation powers, introduces journalist shield laws for CCC proceedings, requires the Director of Public Prosecutions to review corruption charges before they are laid, and sets a fixed seven-year non-renewable term for CCC commissioners.
Local Government Legislation (Validation of Rates and Charges) Amendment Bill 2018
This bill retrospectively validates council rates and charges across Queensland that may have been technically invalid due to a procedural issue. In 2017, the Supreme Court ruled that Fraser Coast Regional Council's rates were invalid because the council adopted its budget without passing a separate resolution specifically deciding what rates to levy. Because many other councils may have followed the same practice, this bill validates all such rates and charges state-wide for financial years up to 30 June 2018.
Local Government (Councillor Complaints) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2018
This bill replaces Queensland's system for handling complaints about local government councillors with an independent, streamlined framework. It creates an Independent Assessor to investigate all complaints, a Councillor Conduct Tribunal to hear serious misconduct cases, and a mandatory code of conduct for councillors. The reforms address longstanding concerns about conflicts of interest when council CEOs assessed complaints against their own councillors.
Land and Other Legislation Amendment Bill (No. 2) 2023
This bill makes wide-ranging changes to how Queensland manages state land, names places, and enforces rates payments by resource companies. It streamlines land administration processes, modernises the place naming framework to enable faster removal of offensive names and smooth transitions to new names like K'gari, and requires petroleum, gas, and geothermal companies to pay local government rates as a condition of their resource authorities.
Local Government (Councillor Conduct) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2023
This bill reforms Queensland's councillor conduct complaints system based on a parliamentary committee inquiry that found the system was too slow and resource-intensive. It also strengthens councillor conflict of interest rules, introduces compulsory training for councillors, modernises advertising requirements, and makes amendments to support the Queen's Wharf Brisbane development.
Information Privacy and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2023
This bill modernises Queensland's privacy and information access laws. It introduces mandatory data breach notification for government agencies, creates a single set of Queensland Privacy Principles to replace two existing sets, strengthens the Information Commissioner's enforcement powers, and supports the proactive release of Cabinet documents recommended by the Coaldrake Report.
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.
Crime and Corruption (Reporting) Amendment Bill 2024
This bill would have given the Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC) clear legal powers to publicly report on corruption investigations and make public statements about corruption matters. It was introduced after the High Court ruled in 2023 that the CCC had no authority to publish reports on individual corruption investigations, leaving a gap in public accountability. This bill lapsed at the end of the 57th Parliament and did not become law.
Local Government Electoral (Implementing Stage 2 of Belcarra) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2019
This bill implements the second stage of reforms arising from the Crime and Corruption Commission's Operation Belcarra investigation into corruption risks at several Queensland councils. It strengthens donation transparency, overhauls how councillors manage conflicts of interest, expands the State's power to intervene in local government, brings Brisbane City Council under the same rules as other councils, and changes local government elections to full-preferential voting.
Local Government Electoral and Other Legislation (Expenditure Caps) Amendment Bill 2022
This bill introduces spending caps for Queensland local government elections, limiting how much candidates, political parties and third parties can spend on campaigning. It was prompted by the Crime and Corruption Commission's Operation Belcarra findings about uneven financial competition in council elections and implements recommendations from a parliamentary committee inquiry.