Office of Best Practice Regulation
OrganisationReferenced in 19 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.
Housing Legislation Amendment Bill 2022
This bill supports two housing reforms: enabling the Homes for Homes charitable donation scheme to operate in Queensland, and improving financial transparency in retirement villages. Homes for Homes allows property owners to voluntarily donate a portion of their sale price to fund social and affordable housing. The retirement village changes give residents better access to financial information about how their fees and charges are spent.
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.
Biodiscovery and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2019
This bill protects First Nations traditional knowledge from being used without consent in biodiscovery — the scientific study of native plants, animals and organisms for commercial purposes like medicines or bioplastics. It requires researchers to negotiate benefit sharing with knowledge custodians and aligns Queensland law with the international Nagoya Protocol.
Revenue and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2025
This bill implements 2025-26 State Budget measures and makes amendments across seven Acts. It extends the doubled First Home Owner Grant and the payroll tax rebate for apprentice and trainee wages, introduces windfall tax provisions to protect state revenue if foreign property surcharges are struck down by courts, clarifies SPER registration fees, validates a renewable energy generation authority transfer, and reforms Budget Estimates hearings.
Racing Integrity Amendment Bill 2022
This bill overhauls how disciplinary decisions by racing stewards are reviewed in Queensland's thoroughbred, harness and greyhound racing industries. It establishes an independent Racing Appeals Panel to replace the existing system of internal review by QRIC and external review by QCAT, aiming to resolve disputes within days rather than months. The bill also authorises the online publication of stewards' reports and makes several technical improvements to bookmaker licensing rules.
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.
Building Units and Group Titles and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2022
This bill strengthens protections for owners in older Queensland multi-owner developments (unit blocks, townhouses, mixed-use complexes) that are still governed by laws from the 1980s and 1990s. It brings these older body corporate laws closer into line with the more modern Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997 by improving governance standards, financial transparency, and dispute resolution. It also enables the Office of Fair Trading to issue infringement notices for gift card breaches.
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.
Justice and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2021
This bill makes permanent several temporary measures introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic across the justice portfolio. It modernises how legal documents are executed by allowing electronic signatures and video call witnessing, improves access to domestic and family violence protection orders, allows licensed restaurants to permanently sell takeaway wine with meals, and extends commercial lease protections.
Electricity and Other Legislation (Batteries and Premium Feed-in Tariff) Amendment Bill 2018
This bill makes three changes to Queensland's electricity laws: it sets clear rules so Solar Bonus Scheme customers can add batteries without losing their 44c/kWh feed-in tariff, it lets apartment and caravan park residents choose their own electricity retailer, and it allows regional households and small businesses to return to Ergon Retail after switching to a private retailer.
Mineral, Water and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2018
This bill makes wide-ranging changes to Queensland's mineral resources and water management laws. It improves dispute resolution between landholders and resource companies, requires climate change to be explicitly considered in water planning, recognises Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural values in water plans, and gives the government new emergency powers to address urgent water quality problems.
Plumbing and Drainage Bill 2018
This bill replaces Queensland's Plumbing and Drainage Act 2002 with a modernised framework that simplifies plumbing approvals, strengthens penalties for unlicensed work, and introduces a new licence for mechanical services workers including those installing hospital gas systems. It consolidates all technical plumbing standards into a single code and gives local governments updated enforcement powers.
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.
Queensland Future Fund Bill 2020
This bill establishes the Queensland Future Fund framework, starting with a Debt Retirement Fund that sets aside money exclusively for paying down State debt. It also legislates a 100% guarantee that the State will fully fund public sector defined benefit superannuation entitlements. The model is based on similar NSW legislation to satisfy credit rating agency requirements.
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.
Therapeutic Goods Bill 2019
This bill adopts the Commonwealth Therapeutic Goods Act 1989 as a law of Queensland, ensuring all manufacturers of therapeutic goods — including sole traders and partnerships — meet national safety and quality standards. It closes a regulatory gap where small manufacturers trading only within Queensland were not subject to any therapeutic goods regulation.
Environmental Protection and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2022
This bill modernises Queensland's environmental protection laws by amending the Environmental Protection Act 1994 and several related Acts. It streamlines regulatory processes for environmental authorities and impact assessments, strengthens compliance powers for environmental inspectors, creates temporary authority provisions for emergency situations, improves contaminated land management, and bans mining in the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area.
Small Business Commissioner Bill 2021
This bill permanently establishes a Queensland Small Business Commissioner to provide advice, support, and dispute resolution services for small businesses. It replaces the temporary commissioner role created during the COVID-19 pandemic with a permanent statutory office, making Queensland consistent with every other mainland state.