Department of Environment and Heritage Protection
OrganisationReferenced in 14 bills
North Stradbroke Island Protection and Sustainability and Others Acts Amendment Bill 2015
This bill reverses 2013 changes that had extended sand mining on North Stradbroke Island (Minjerribah) out to 2035, restoring the original plan to end mining substantially by 2019. It also creates a new power for former mine operators across Queensland to re-enter land to finish rehabilitation after their mining leases expire.
Safer Waterways Bill 2017
This bill would have created a new Queensland Crocodile Authority based in Cairns with powers to kill or relocate crocodiles that threaten people, and to authorise crocodile farming and egg harvesting as a new industry. Introduced by KAP MP Shane Knuth as a private member's bill in response to crocodile attacks in North Queensland, it lapsed and did not become law.
Mineral and Energy Resources (Financial Provisioning) Bill 2017
This bill creates a new pooled Financial Provisioning Scheme that makes mining companies share the cost of protecting Queensland from unrehabilitated mine sites. It also requires every mine to prepare a binding Progressive Rehabilitation and Closure Plan with enforceable milestones, audited every three years.
Crocodile Control and Conservation Bill 2024
This bill sought to establish a Queensland Crocodile Authority based in Cairns to take over all crocodile management in the state. It aimed to make North Queensland waterways safer by creating zero-tolerance zones where crocodiles must be removed, while also expanding the crocodile farming and egg harvesting industry. This bill was discharged and did not become law.
Crocodile Control, Conservation and Safety Bill 2024
This bill sought to establish a Queensland Crocodile Authority based in Cairns to take over all crocodile management in the state. It prioritised human safety by creating zero-tolerance zones where crocodiles would be immediately removed from populated waterways, while also expanding the crocodile farming and egg harvesting industry. This was a private member's bill that lapsed at the end of the 57th Parliament and did not become law.
Safer Waterways Bill 2018
This bill sought to create a Queensland Crocodile Authority based in Cairns to manage saltwater crocodile populations across the state. It responded to growing community concern about increasing crocodile numbers and attacks in North Queensland, with 25 recorded attacks between 1985 and 2015 (seven fatal) and three attacks in the year before the bill was introduced (two fatal). The bill's second reading failed and it did not become law.
Crocodile Control and Conservation Bill 2025
This bill sought to establish a Queensland Crocodile Authority based in Cairns to manage all aspects of crocodile control and conservation in the state. It responded to rising crocodile numbers and sightings in North Queensland by creating zero-tolerance zones in populated waterways where crocodiles would be immediately killed or relocated, while also building a sustainable crocodile industry through egg harvesting and farming. The bill was introduced as a private member's bill and its second reading failed — it did not become law.
Liquid Fuel Supply (Ethanol and Other Biofuels Mandate) Amendment Bill 2015
This bill creates Queensland's first mandatory biofuels targets, requiring larger fuel retailers to ensure 2 per cent of their regular petrol sales are ethanol or other biobased petrol, and fuel wholesalers to ensure 0.5 per cent of diesel sales are biodiesel or other renewable diesel. The mandate is designed to grow Queensland's biofuels industry, create regional jobs, and cut transport emissions while protecting consumer choice by excluding premium unleaded petrol from the target.
Environmental Protection (Chain of Responsibility) Amendment Bill 2016
This bill amends the Environmental Protection Act 1994 so that when a mining or industrial company collapses or walks away from a polluting site, the government can force the people and companies behind it to pay for the clean-up. It was introduced urgently after several high-profile failures including the Yabulu Nickel Refinery.
Waste Reduction and Recycling Amendment Bill 2017
This bill creates the legal framework for Queensland's plastic shopping bag ban and container refund scheme, both starting 1 July 2018. It also strengthens the rules that govern when waste materials can be reused as resources.
Nature Conservation (Special Wildlife Reserves) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2017
This bill creates a new kind of protected area in Queensland called a 'special wildlife reserve', letting private landholders lock in permanent, national-park-level protection over land of outstanding conservation value while keeping it in private ownership. It also makes sure existing conservation agreements on leasehold land are not lost when the lease is renewed, converted or transferred, and closes a small regulatory gap for activities straddling Queensland and Commonwealth waters in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.
Appropriation Bill 2016
This bill is the 2016-17 Queensland Budget in legal form. It authorises the Treasurer to spend $47.6 billion across government departments for the year starting 1 July 2016, and a further $23.8 billion in interim supply to keep government running into 2017-18.
Appropriation Bill 2017
This bill is Queensland's annual state budget in legal form. It authorises the Treasurer to spend $50.85 billion from the consolidated fund on government departments for 2017-18, and provides $25.43 billion in interim supply to keep government running in the first half of 2018-19 until the next budget passes.
Water Legislation Amendment Bill 2015
This bill undoes several water law changes that the previous government passed in 2014 but which had not yet taken effect. It puts ecologically sustainable development principles back into the purpose of the Water Act 2000, removes 'water development options' that would have given large infrastructure proponents an early exclusive claim over water, and removes the ability to declare 'designated watercourses' where a water licence would not be needed. It also fixes a 2005 technical mistake in setting up the Lower Herbert Water Management Authority and confirms that existing river improvement trusts continue to operate.