Industrial Relations Act 2016
LegislationReferenced in 33 bills
Mineral and Energy Resources and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2020
This bill makes wide-ranging changes across Queensland's mining, energy and water sectors. It introduces industrial manslaughter offences for the resources industry, strengthens financial assurance requirements to prevent mining companies from abandoning sites without proper rehabilitation, streamlines resource authority approval processes, extends energy consumer protections, and increases transparency of water infrastructure charges in South East Queensland.
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.
Human Rights Bill 2018
This bill creates a Human Rights Act for Queensland, establishing statutory protections for 23 human rights drawn from international law. It requires all government agencies, councils, police and contracted public service providers to act compatibly with these rights, and sets up a complaints process through a renamed Queensland Human Rights Commission.
Domestic and Family Violence Protection and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2025
This bill strengthens Queensland's response to domestic and family violence by giving police the power to issue 12-month protection directions without going to court, piloting GPS ankle bracelet monitoring for high-risk perpetrators, and expanding video-recorded evidence to all Magistrates Courts statewide. It also improves oversight of providers delivering DFV intervention programs.
Work Health and Safety and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2023
This bill strengthens Queensland's workplace health and safety laws by implementing recommendations from two major reviews. It enhances the powers and protections of health and safety representatives, makes it easier for registered unions to participate in safety matters, lowers the prosecution threshold for the most serious safety offences from recklessness to negligence, and bans insurance that covers workplace safety fines.
Pharmacy Business Ownership Bill 2023
This bill replaces Queensland's 20-year-old pharmacy ownership law with a modern licensing and regulatory framework. It establishes the Queensland Pharmacy Business Ownership Council as an independent body to oversee who can own pharmacies, introduces mandatory annual licensing, and strengthens protections against commercial interference in pharmacy health services.
Forensic Science Queensland Bill 2023
This bill establishes Forensic Science Queensland as an independent statutory body responsible for providing forensic services to Queensland's criminal justice system. It responds to the 2022 Commission of Inquiry into Forensic DNA Testing, which found serious problems with DNA evidence handling and made 123 recommendations. Queensland becomes the first Australian state to have dedicated legislation governing forensic science services.
Queensland Productivity Commission Bill 2024
This bill establishes the Queensland Productivity Commission as an independent statutory body to conduct public inquiries, research and provide advice on economic and social issues, regulatory matters and legislation. It was a commitment of the Queensland Government during the 2024 state election, re-establishing a body that previously existed under the now-repealed Queensland Productivity Commission Act 2015.
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.
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.
Trading (Allowable Hours) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2022
This bill simplifies Queensland's retail trading hours framework by reducing the number of trading area categories and strengthening protections for retail workers who do not want to work extended hours. It also makes permanent the COVID-era arrangements allowing school P&C meetings and teacher registration investigations to be conducted by video call rather than in person.
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.
Energy (Renewable Transformation and Jobs) Bill 2023
This bill creates the legal foundation for Queensland's transition from coal-fired to renewable electricity generation. It legislates renewable energy targets of 50% by 2030, 70% by 2032, and 80% by 2035, commits to public ownership of energy assets, establishes frameworks to build new transmission infrastructure and Renewable Energy Zones across the state, and creates a $150 million fund to support workers at coal-fired power stations through the transition.
Industrial Relations and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2022
This bill implements 40 recommendations from the five-year review of Queensland's Industrial Relations Act 2016. It strengthens workplace sexual harassment protections, creates new minimum standards for gig economy courier drivers, modernises parental leave entitlements, requires gender pay gap transparency in collective bargaining, and tightens rules around who can claim to represent workers and employers.
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.
Agriculture and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2019
This bill makes wide-ranging amendments to laws governing agriculture, animal welfare, biosecurity, forestry, fisheries, racing, and other areas. Most notably, it significantly increases penalties for trespassing on agricultural land and strengthens biosecurity obligations, prompted by a wave of animal activist protests on farms. It also improves protections for animals in hot vehicles, expands farm debt mediation access, and clarifies the Racing Integrity Commission's powers.
Path to Treaty Bill 2023
This bill creates a formal pathway towards treaty negotiations between Queensland's First Nations peoples and the state government. It establishes the First Nations Treaty Institute as an independent statutory body to develop a treaty-making framework and support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and a Truth-telling and Healing Inquiry to document the effects of colonisation. The bill was passed with amendment.
Economic Development and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2024
This bill transforms Economic Development Queensland (EDQ) from a primarily commercial development agency into one with an explicit mandate to deliver social and affordable housing. It gives EDQ new powers to acquire land, impose housing requirements on developers, invest in property assets, and lead coordinated urban renewal through new Place Renewal Areas. The bill also restructures EDQ as a more independent entity with its own CEO, board, and employing office.
Holidays and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2019
This bill makes Christmas Eve a part-day public holiday in Queensland from 6pm to midnight. It recognises that Christmas celebrations often begin on the evening of 24 December and ensures workers are either able to refuse work after 6pm or receive penalty rates if they do work.
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.
Corrective Services and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2020
This bill strengthens anti-corruption measures in Queensland prisons following the Crime and Corruption Commission's Taskforce Flaxton report, improves the parole system based on the Queensland Parole System Review, and tightens prisoner management rules. It also establishes a permanent firearms amnesty, clarifies rules for gel blaster and replica firearm possession, and increases penalties for assaults on corrective services officers.
Meriba Omasker Kaziw Kazipa (Torres Strait Islander Traditional Child Rearing Practice) Bill 2020
This bill creates a legal framework to recognise Torres Strait Islander traditional child rearing practice (Ailan Kastom), under which children are permanently placed with cultural parents within the extended family. It establishes a new Commissioner to decide applications for cultural recognition orders that transfer legal parentage, so that a child's birth certificate and legal identity match their cultural reality. This is the first legislation of its kind in Australia.
Public Service and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2020
This bill reforms Queensland's public service employment laws based on the independent Bridgman Review. It makes permanent employment the default for government workers, gives temporary and casual employees new rights to request conversion to permanent roles, and introduces positive performance management principles that require managers to support employees before resorting to discipline.
Electoral Legislation (Political Donations) Amendment Bill 2018
This bill would have banned all for-profit corporations from making political donations in Queensland, at both state and local government levels. It was a private member's bill introduced by the Greens, building on the Crime and Corruption Commission's Operation Belcarra investigation into the corrupting influence of political donations. The bill failed its second reading and did not become law.
Holidays and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2022
This bill declared 22 September 2022 as a one-off public holiday in Queensland for the National Day of Mourning following the death of Queen Elizabeth II on 11 September 2022. It aligned Queensland with a national approach announced by the Prime Minister, ensuring all standard public holiday entitlements applied to the day.
Criminal Code and Other Legislation (Wage Theft) Amendment Bill 2020
This bill makes deliberate wage theft a criminal offence in Queensland, punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment for stealing and 14 years for fraud. It also creates a simpler, faster and cheaper process for workers to recover unpaid wages through the Industrial Magistrates Court, with free conciliation offered before matters go to a hearing.
Criminal Code (Decriminalising Sex Work) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2024
This bill decriminalises sex work in Queensland by repealing the Prostitution Act 1999 and removing sex-work-specific criminal offences. Based on the Queensland Law Reform Commission's 47 recommendations, it replaces the existing brothel licensing system with a framework that treats sex work like any other lawful occupation, while introducing tough new offences to protect children from exploitation and prevent coercion.
Respect at Work and Other Matters Amendment Bill 2024
This bill makes wide-ranging changes to Queensland's anti-discrimination, sentencing and judicial laws. It strengthens workplace protections against sexual harassment and discrimination, adds new grounds on which people are protected from unfair treatment, and requires employers to actively prevent discrimination. It also increases penalties for violence against workers and clarifies judicial immunity.
Motor Accident Insurance and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2019
This bill makes it a criminal offence to engage in 'claim farming' — the practice of cold-calling people after car accidents to pressure them into making insurance claims, then selling their details to lawyers for a fee. It strengthens the Motor Accident Insurance Commission's powers to investigate and prosecute claim farming by law firms and intermediaries, and requires additional claimant information to help detect fraudulent activity in the CTP insurance scheme.
Public Sector Bill 2022
This bill replaces the Public Service Act 2008 with a new Public Sector Act that creates a unified employment framework for the entire Queensland public sector. It implements recommendations from two independent reviews — the Bridgman Review into public sector employment laws and the Coaldrake Report on public sector culture and accountability — to make the public sector fairer, more diverse and better governed.
Integrity and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2022
This bill strengthens the independence of Queensland's key integrity bodies — the Auditor-General, the Integrity Commissioner, and the Ombudsman — following the Coaldrake Report's review of culture and accountability in the public sector. It makes the Auditor-General an officer of Parliament, creates a formal Office of the Integrity Commissioner, and introduces criminal penalties for unregistered lobbying.
Transport and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2023
This bill makes wide-ranging amendments across Queensland's transport legislation. It transfers heavy vehicle regulatory services to the national regulator, strengthens road safety rules for e-scooters and bicycles on footpaths, introduces consistent safety duties for all road-based public passenger services, and modernises the process for dealing with toll demand notices.
Superannuation (State Public Sector) (Scheme Administration) Amendment Bill 2021
This bill enables the merger of QSuper and Sunsuper into Australia's second largest superannuation fund, with around $200 billion under administration. It retires the QSuper Board as trustee, moves the trust deed out of legislation to allow a new corporate trustee structure, and ensures the merged fund must remain headquartered in Queensland.