Chief Health Officer
Role / OfficeReferenced in 17 bills
Public Health and Other Legislation (Extension of Expiring Provisions) Amendment Bill 2020
This bill extended Queensland's COVID-19 emergency powers from their original expiry in late 2020 and early 2021 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 to allow mental health patients to comply with health directions.
Corrective Services (Emerging Technologies and Security) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2022
This bill modernises Queensland's corrective services and youth justice legislation to address emerging security threats and improve emergency preparedness. It criminalises drone use over prisons and youth detention centres, authorises new search and surveillance technologies, strengthens information sharing between agencies, and creates a comprehensive emergency response framework for correctional facilities.
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 in place temporary measures across tenancy, court proceedings, health, and other areas. It also reforms by-election procedures during the pandemic, allows artisan distillers to sell spirits directly to the public, changes how local government councillor vacancies are filled, and bolsters youth detention centre staffing powers.
Healthy Futures Commission Queensland Bill 2017
This bill creates a new independent state body called the Healthy Futures Commission Queensland, focused on helping children and families live healthier lives. The Commission will fund community projects, partnerships and research aimed at promoting healthy eating, physical activity and reducing health gaps between different Queensland communities.
COVID-19 Emergency Response Bill 2020
This bill established temporary emergency powers to help Queensland respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. It protected renters and small businesses from eviction, allowed Parliament and courts to operate remotely, and gave government broad powers to modify legal requirements around documents, time limits, and proceedings. The entire Act expired on 31 December 2020.
Public Health and Other Legislation (Extension of Expiring Provisions) Amendment Bill 2022
This bill extended Queensland's COVID-19 public health emergency powers from 30 April 2022 to 31 October 2022, while allowing most other temporary COVID-19 measures to expire. It kept in place the Chief Health Officer's power to issue public health directions, emergency powers in corrective services and disaster management, and mental health patient leave provisions, with all measures tied to the ongoing public health emergency declaration.
Public Health (Infection Control) Amendment Bill 2017
This bill strengthens Queensland's infection control rules for hospitals, dental practices, medical clinics and acupuncture clinics. It was prompted by a Brisbane dental clinic incident where substandard sterilisation exposed staff and patients to blood-borne diseases. The changes give Queensland Health faster and stronger powers to investigate, require improvements, or order a clinic to stop a service.
Justice and Other Legislation (COVID-19 Emergency Response) Amendment Bill 2020
This bill made temporary amendments to over 20 Queensland Acts as the state's third legislative response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It addressed issues that could not be dealt with under the existing COVID-19 Emergency Response Act 2020 modification framework, providing financial relief for workers, property owners and businesses, strengthening public health and emergency powers, and enabling corrections, disability and mental health services to operate safely during the emergency. Most provisions expired on 31 December 2020.
Public Health and Other Legislation (Public Health Emergency) Amendment Bill 2020
This bill gave Queensland authorities the legal powers needed to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, including lockdowns, quarantine orders, business closures, and restrictions on gatherings. It also amended electoral and planning laws to provide flexibility during the public health emergency, with most emergency powers set to expire one year after commencement.
Public Health (Water Risk Management) Amendment Bill 2016
This bill amends the Public Health Act 2005 to make Queensland hospitals and residential aged care facilities actively manage the risk of Legionella and other waterborne hazards in their water supplies. It was introduced after a 2013 Legionnaires' disease outbreak at The Wesley Hospital in Brisbane.
Public Health and Other Legislation (Further Extension of Expiring Provisions) Amendment Bill 2021
This bill extended most of Queensland's temporary COVID-19 emergency laws until 30 April 2022, continuing the legal basis for public health directions, quarantine requirements, and support measures across multiple sectors. It also reformed the quarantine fee system to allow prepayment and third-party liability, and clarified that quarantine directions could be issued electronically.
Health and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2016
This bill makes a set of changes across health, research and criminal law. It equalises Queensland's age of consent at 16 for all sexual activity, gives GPs access to hospital records through a system called The Viewer, streamlines research use of patient data, lets schools share student details with immunisation and dental providers, and frees QIMR Berghofer to pay research bonuses up to $10 million a year without Cabinet approval.
Health Legislation Amendment Bill (No. 3) 2025
This bill amends eight Queensland health Acts to fix implementation issues with the new fertility clinic regulatory framework, create a legal basis for organ donation procedures before circulatory death, require cosmetic surgery safety standards at private hospitals, and give the government broader powers to remove health board members. It is the third health legislation amendment bill for 2025.
Health and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2018
This bill makes wide-ranging amendments to health and retirement village legislation. It repeals Queensland's separate medicinal cannabis approval system in favour of the Commonwealth framework, creates a mandatory register for occupational dust lung diseases like black lung and silicosis, gives Queensland Health new powers to issue public pollution notices, streamlines radiation safety licensing, modernises tissue donation laws for research, and requires retirement village operators to buy back unsold freehold units within 18 months.
Health Legislation Amendment Bill 2015
This bill changes six Queensland health laws at once. Its main change is a new menu labelling scheme that requires large fast-food chains, cafe and bakery chains and supermarkets to show kilojoule information on their menus. It also lets health authorities publicly name unsafe food businesses, makes it easier to fill temporary vacancies on health boards, gives registered midwives direct access to the Pap Smear Register, and clarifies that cord blood can be donated to stem-cell registries.
COVID-19 Emergency Response and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2021
This bill extends Queensland's temporary COVID-19 emergency legislation to 30 September 2021, gives local governments flexibility to adjust rates mid-year, creates a framework for holding COVID-safe local government by-elections and fresh elections, and extends temporary remote meeting arrangements for councils.
Public Health and Other Legislation (COVID-19 Management) Amendment Bill 2022
This bill wound down Queensland's broad COVID-19 emergency powers and replaced them with a more targeted, temporary framework expiring on 31 October 2023. It allowed the Chief Health Officer to issue public health directions only about isolation, quarantine, mask wearing and worker vaccination in high-risk settings, with new requirements for public justification and parliamentary oversight.