Court of Appeal
OrganisationReferenced in 19 bills
Mental Health (Recovery Model) Bill 2015
This bill replaces Queensland's Mental Health Act 2000 with a new framework for treating people with mental illness who cannot consent to their own care. It is built around a recovery model that treats people in the community wherever possible, strengthens patient rights, and provides clearer ways to divert people with mental illness from the criminal justice system while protecting the community.
Planning and Development (Planning Court) Bill 2015
This bill would have created a separate Act to govern the Planning and Environment Court, which hears disputes about planning, development and environmental decisions. It moved the court out of the Sustainable Planning Act 2009 into its own legislation, and expanded the powers of an Alternative Dispute Resolution Registrar to handle simpler matters cheaply. The bill was part of a 2015 LNP planning reform package and did not become law.
Human Rights Bill 2018
This bill creates Queensland's first Human Rights Act, establishing 23 protected human rights and requiring all government entities to act compatibly with them. It adopts a 'dialogue model' where Parliament remains sovereign but courts can declare laws incompatible, and a renamed Queensland Human Rights Commission handles complaints from the public.
Criminal Law Amendment Bill 2016
This bill removes the so-called 'gay panic' defence by stopping killers from using an unwanted sexual advance as grounds for reducing murder to manslaughter, except in exceptional cases. It also packages a long list of other criminal law tidy-ups, covering criminal proceeds confiscation, court evidence, juries, Magistrates Court procedure, and sentencing enforcement.
Criminal Code and Other Legislation (Double Jeopardy Exception and Subsequent Appeals) Amendment Bill 2023
This bill reforms Queensland's criminal appeals system in two significant ways. It creates a new right for convicted persons to make subsequent appeals to the Court of Appeal when fresh or new compelling evidence emerges, even after their original appeal has been decided. It also expands the double jeopardy exception — which previously only applied to murder — to allow retrials for 10 additional serious offences punishable by life imprisonment.
Domestic and Family Violence Protection and Another Act Amendment Bill 2015
This bill strengthens Queensland's domestic violence laws in response to the 'Not Now, Not Ever' taskforce report. It changes how courts handle competing protection order applications, makes courts actively consider ordering perpetrators out of the family home, gives victims a stronger voice in decisions, and clearly authorises police to use body-worn cameras on duty.
Criminal Code (Child Sexual Offences Reform) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2019
This bill reforms Queensland's criminal justice system to better protect children from sexual abuse and improve access to justice for survivors. It implements key recommendations from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, strengthens sentencing for child exploitation material offences, and criminalises child abuse objects such as life-like child replicas.
Community Based Sentences (Interstate Transfer) Bill 2019
This bill establishes Queensland's participation in a national scheme for transferring community based sentences — such as probation, community service and intensive correction orders — between Australian states and territories. It replaces informal interstate supervision arrangements that had no enforcement powers, ensuring offenders who move interstate can be properly supervised and held accountable for breaches in their new jurisdiction.
Forest Wind Farm Development Bill 2020
This bill enables a $2 billion wind farm of up to 226 turbines in three State forests near Gympie, creating special tenure arrangements that override the Forestry Act. It also separately fixes planning administration problems in the Springfield development area in Ipswich.
Electoral (Improving Representation) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2016
This bill increases the size of Queensland's Parliament from 89 to 93 MPs, adding four new electoral districts to improve representation in regional and remote Queensland. It also expands the Redistribution Commission from three to five members and requires the leaders of every party in Parliament to agree on who gets appointed.
Mental Health Bill 2015
This bill completely replaces Queensland's Mental Health Act 2000 with a new framework for treating people with serious mental illness who cannot consent to their own treatment, and for dealing with people with a mental illness who are charged with serious crimes. It tightens the criteria for involuntary treatment, strengthens patient rights, limits the use of restraint and seclusion, and creates a new role - the chief psychiatrist - to oversee the system.
Penalties and Sentences (Queensland Sentencing Advisory Council) Amendment Bill 2016
This bill re-establishes the Queensland Sentencing Advisory Council, an independent body that advises on sentencing, researches how sentences are set, and seeks community views. The council had been created in 2010 and dissolved in 2012; this bill brings it back in permanent legislation.
Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2018
This bill improves Queensland's main tribunal (QCAT) and strengthens consumer protections for vehicle buyers. It raises QCAT's jurisdictional limit for motor vehicle disputes from $25,000 to $100,000, reinstates statutory warranty protections for older used vehicles sold by dealers, and introduces conciliation as a new dispute resolution option.
Revenue Legislation Amendment Bill 2017
This bill rolls several 2017-18 State Budget tax measures into one package. It extends the boosted $20,000 First Home Owners' Grant for another six months, introduces a new 1.5 per cent land tax surcharge on overseas-based landowners, tightens foreign buyer duty rules, and restores tenant protections against landlords passing on land tax on older commercial leases.
Criminal Code and Other Legislation (Mason Jett Lee) Amendment Bill 2019
This bill sought to introduce mandatory minimum prison sentences for the murder of children and create a new criminal offence of 'child homicide'. Named after Mason Jett Lee, a toddler who was killed, it aimed to ensure sentencing for child deaths reflects community expectations and aligns with other Australian jurisdictions. The bill was defeated at the second reading and did not become law.
Legal Profession (Strengthening Disciplinary Matters) Amendment Bill 2026
This bill moves the disciplinary system for Queensland lawyers from QCAT to the Supreme Court. It implements the findings of a statutory review that recommended the Supreme Court as a more appropriate venue for hearing serious misconduct cases against legal practitioners, while keeping the process accessible and less formal than typical court proceedings.
Electoral (Improving Representation) and Another Act Amendment Bill 2015
This bill proposed to increase the size of Queensland's Parliament from 89 to 93 members and change how top appointments to the Electoral Commission of Queensland are made. It was a private member's bill introduced by Mr Katter MP that failed at the second reading stage and did not become law.
Planning and Environment Court Bill 2015
This bill gives the Planning and Environment Court its own stand-alone Act instead of being buried inside the Sustainable Planning Act 2009. It keeps the existing court running, pairs with the Planning Bill 2015 to handle development disputes, and encourages more use of mediation and other alternative dispute resolution to settle cases faster and more cheaply.
Crime and Corruption (Reporting) Amendment Bill 2024
This bill restores the Crime and Corruption Commission's ability to publicly report on corruption investigations, after the High Court ruled in 2023 that the CCC had no such power. It creates a structured framework for the CCC to prepare reports and make public statements about corruption, balanced by a public interest test, identity protections, and procedural fairness for people affected.