Department of Justice and Attorney-General
OrganisationReferenced in 50 bills
Appropriation Bill 2020
This bill authorises government spending across two financial years. It formally approves $1.114 billion in supplementary funding for unforeseen costs during 2019-20, and provides $28.635 billion in additional interim supply for 2020-21 because the regular state budget was postponed due to the state election and COVID-19.
Victims' Commissioner and Sexual Violence Review Board Bill 2024
This bill establishes a Victims' Commissioner as an independent statutory officer to promote and protect the rights of victims of crime in Queensland. It also creates the Sexual Violence Review Board to examine systemic problems in how sexual offences are reported, investigated and prosecuted. The bill transfers the Charter of Victims' Rights from the Victims of Crime Assistance Act 2009 and gives the Commissioner power to handle complaints when victims' rights are breached.
Guardianship and Administration and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2017
This bill modernises Queensland's guardianship laws to better protect adults with impaired decision-making capacity and align them with international human rights standards. It also makes separate, unrelated changes to integrity advice rules for senior public servants and resolves a conflict between state and federal whistleblower laws for government-owned corporations.
Appropriation (Supplementary 2024-2025) Bill 2025
This bill formally approves $5.741 billion in government spending that exceeded the original 2024-25 budget across 16 departments. The money has already been spent and reviewed by the Auditor-General, and Parliament must now formally authorise it as required by the Queensland Constitution.
Racing Integrity Bill 2015
This bill creates the Queensland Racing Integrity Commission, a new independent watchdog for animal welfare and integrity in greyhound, thoroughbred, and harness racing. It responds directly to the 2015 Commission of Inquiry that found widespread live baiting and industry self-regulation failure. The bill strips Racing Queensland of its welfare and licensing role, leaving it to handle only commercial operations, and gives authorised officers stronger powers to investigate cruelty and share information with police.
Forensic Science Queensland Bill 2023
This bill establishes Forensic Science Queensland as an independent statutory body responsible for providing forensic services to support Queensland's criminal justice system. It implements the key recommendation of the Commission of Inquiry into Forensic DNA Testing, which found serious failings in how DNA evidence was tested and managed. Queensland becomes the first Australian state with dedicated legislation governing forensic science services.
Public Trustee (Advisory and Monitoring Board) Amendment Bill 2021
This bill creates a new independent board to oversee Queensland's Public Trustee, which manages the financial and legal affairs of vulnerable people. It was introduced after the Public Advocate found significant issues with the Public Trustee's fees, charges and practices in a 2021 review.
Payroll Tax Rebate, Revenue and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2015
This bill is an omnibus package that amends nine Acts. Its centrepiece is a 25 per cent payroll tax rebate on apprentice and trainee wages for three years, backed by $45 million. It also sets up the legal framework for electronic property conveyancing, creates a stamp duty concession for mining exploration farm-in deals, delays anti-bikie licensing rules by 12 months, and requires licensed plumbers to install water meters.
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.
Labour Hire Licensing Bill 2017
This bill sets up a mandatory licensing scheme for labour hire companies in Queensland to crack down on worker exploitation and restore confidence in the industry. Providers must be licensed, pass a fit and proper person test and report every six months, while businesses that use them must only engage licensed operators. A public register and a new inspectorate back the scheme up, with penalties of up to three years' imprisonment or $3,000+ penalty units for corporations.
Body Corporate and Community Management and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2023
This bill reforms Queensland's body corporate and off-the-plan property laws. It creates a new process for terminating ageing community titles schemes that are no longer economically viable, modernises body corporate governance rules around pets, smoking, and parking, and protects off-the-plan buyers from developers misusing sunset clauses to cancel contracts.
Appropriation Bill 2025
This bill authorises the Queensland Government to spend $105.4 billion in the 2025-26 financial year across all government departments. It is the standard annual budget bill required by law, and also provides $52.7 billion in interim supply so government services can continue operating in early 2026-27.
Public Safety Business Agency and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2016
This bill reshapes the Public Safety Business Agency, which provides shared back-office services to Queensland's police and fire agencies. It sets up a new Board of Management led by the Police and Fire Commissioners, hands some operational functions back to the Queensland Police Service and Queensland Fire and Emergency Services, moves Blue Card Services to the Department of Justice and Attorney-General, and absorbs the State Government Protective Security Service into the police service.
Land Valuation Amendment Bill 2023
This bill modernises Queensland's land valuation framework, which determines how property is valued for land tax, council rates, and state land rent. It gives the valuer-general new powers to make binding guidelines on valuation practices, streamlines the objection process by removing arbitrary monetary thresholds, and gives farmers more control over how their non-adjoining lots are valued.
Fire and Emergency Services (Domestic Smoke Alarms) Amendment Bill 2016
This bill tightens Queensland's smoke alarm rules in response to the 2011 Slacks Creek house fire that killed 11 people. It requires every home to have photoelectric, interconnected smoke alarms powered by hardwiring or a 10-year lithium battery, phased in over a decade from 1 January 2017 to 1 January 2027.
Building Units and Group Titles and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2022
This bill reforms governance of older multi-owner property developments in Queensland that pre-date the Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997. It strengthens protections for unit owners in these older schemes by improving committee eligibility rules, financial accountability, dispute resolution, and transparency. It also enables the state's Office of Fair Trading to issue infringement notices for breaches of gift card requirements.
Appropriation Bill 2022
This bill authorises the Queensland Government to spend $69.86 billion in the 2022-23 financial year across all state government departments. It is the annual legal mechanism that allows the government to fund public services including health, education, transport, policing and emergency services.
Criminal Justice Legislation (Sexual Violence and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2024
This bill implements the third wave of reforms from the Women's Safety and Justice Taskforce, focusing on sexual violence and improving how women and girls experience the criminal justice system. It creates new offences to protect young people from sexual exploitation by people in authority, strengthens protections for vulnerable witnesses, allows expert evidence to help juries understand victim behaviour, and modernises rules about how past behaviour evidence can be used in criminal trials.
Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2024
This bill reforms Queensland's rental laws to strengthen protections for renters, stabilise rents in the private market, and ease cost-of-living pressures. It also introduces mandatory professional development for property agents, removes compulsory superannuation contributions for local government employees, and fixes technical issues in body corporate termination processes.
Transport and Other Legislation (Personalised Transport Reform) Amendment Bill 2017
This bill sets up a new regulatory framework for taxis, limousines and ride-booking services like Uber in Queensland. It creates new licence and authorisation categories, imposes a chain of responsibility for safety across the industry, and strengthens penalties for unlicensed services.
Defamation (Model Provisions) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2021
This bill modernises Queensland's defamation laws as part of a nationally agreed reform. It raises the bar for defamation claims by requiring proof of serious harm, introduces mandatory pre-court notices to encourage early resolution, and creates new defences for public interest reporting and academic peer review. It also fixes a minor heavy vehicle enforcement issue.
Criminal Law (Domestic Violence) Amendment Bill (No. 2) 2015
This bill responds to the Not Now, Not Ever report by the Special Taskforce on Domestic and Family Violence. It creates a new criminal offence of strangulation in a domestic setting, makes domestic violence an aggravating factor that increases sentences, and restores the power of lawyers to suggest specific sentences to the court.
Workers’ Compensation and Rehabilitation and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2024
This bill overhauls Queensland's workers' compensation system based on a 2023 independent review, while also updating industrial relations and labour hire licensing laws. It strengthens rehabilitation requirements, speeds up payments to injured workers, expands cancer protections for firefighters, and lays the groundwork for future gig worker coverage.
Meriba Omasker Kaziw Kazipa (Torres Strait Islander Traditional Child Rearing Practice) Bill 2020
This bill creates Australia's first legal framework to recognise Torres Strait Islander traditional child rearing practice (Ailan Kastom), where children are permanently placed with cultural parents within the extended family network. It establishes a Commissioner to decide applications for cultural recognition orders that legally transfer parentage, resulting in new birth certificates that reflect a person's cultural identity.
Mineral Resources (Aurukun Bauxite Resource) Amendment Bill 2016
This bill restores normal community objection and judicial review rights to bauxite mining projects at Aurukun on western Cape York. Since 2006, a special regime under the Mineral Resources Act 1989 had bypassed those rights for projects on Restricted Area 315. The bill brings Aurukun projects back in line with the standard mining approval process.
Child Protection Reform Amendment Bill 2016
This bill reforms Queensland's child protection court system by implementing ten recommendations from the 2013 Carmody Inquiry. It strengthens the voice of children and families in Childrens Court proceedings, clarifies which agency applies for which kind of order, and introduces a new duty of disclosure.
Appropriation Bill (No. 2) 2021
This bill formally authorises $447.5 million in additional government spending that occurred during the 2020-21 financial year. The spending had already been incurred but required parliamentary approval under Queensland's Constitution. It is presented as a separate bill for timely transparency rather than being bundled with the next annual budget.
Justice and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2021
This bill makes permanent several temporary COVID-19 measures in Queensland's justice system. It modernises how legal documents are signed and witnessed by allowing electronic signatures and video link witnessing, improves access to domestic violence protection orders, lets licensed restaurants permanently sell takeaway wine with meals, and extends COVID-19 retail lease protections.
Appropriation Bill 2021
This bill authorises the Queensland Government's budget for the 2021-22 financial year, appropriating $63.5 billion across all government departments and agencies. It also provides $31.8 billion in interim funding for the start of 2022-23 until the next budget bill passes.
Ministerial and Other Office Holder Staff and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2018
This bill gives the Director-General of the Department of the Premier and Cabinet and the Clerk of the Parliament formal legal authority to conduct criminal history checks on people working in ministerial offices, electorate offices, and the Parliamentary Service. It formalises interim arrangements that were already in place since December 2017, bringing these checks in line with the powers that already exist for Queensland public service employees.
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.
Criminal Code (Decriminalising Sex Work) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2024
This bill decriminalises sex work in Queensland by repealing criminal offences that made most forms of sex work illegal and abolishing the brothel licensing system. It implements recommendations from the Queensland Law Reform Commission to treat sex work as legitimate work, while introducing new offences specifically targeting the exploitation of children and coercion in commercial sexual services.
Police and Other Legislation (Identity and Biometric Capability) Amendment Bill 2018
This bill enables Queensland to participate in national facial biometric identity matching services, removes restrictions on police accessing driver licence photos for serious crime investigations, increases penalties for explosive offences, and provided temporary extended liquor trading for the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast.
Heavy Vehicle National Law and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2018
This bill strengthens safety obligations for heavy vehicle businesses, increases penalties for driving offences that cause death or serious injury, and introduces several road safety improvements. It also establishes a national database of heavy vehicles and facilitates the transition from the Federal Interstate Registration Scheme to state-based registration.
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.
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 2023
This bill authorises the Queensland Government to spend $78.4 billion in the 2023-24 financial year across all government departments. It is the annual budget appropriation required by law, and also provides interim funding for early 2024-25 and covers unforeseen spending that occurred during 2022-23.
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.
Working with Children (Risk Management and Screening) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2018
This bill introduces a 'No Card, No Start' policy for Queensland's blue card system, meaning no one can begin paid work with children without first holding a working with children clearance. It also modernises the blue card application process with online options, expands the criminal offences that automatically disqualify a person from working with children, closes loopholes that allowed high-risk people to rely on exemptions, and creates a centralised register of home-based care services.
Appropriation Bill 2018
This bill authorises the Queensland Government to spend $53.2 billion from the Consolidated Fund in the 2018-19 financial year. It is the annual appropriation bill that gives every government department legal authority to access its budget allocation for delivering public services including health, education, transport, policing, and community support.
Betting Tax Bill 2018
This bill introduces a 15% point-of-consumption betting tax on the net wagering revenue that betting operators earn from customers located in Queensland. It replaces the old wagering tax (which was based on where the operator was located) and brings Queensland into line with similar taxes in South Australia and Victoria.
Information Privacy and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2023
This bill modernises Queensland's information privacy and right to information laws. It introduces mandatory data breach notifications so agencies must tell you if your personal information is compromised, replaces the old dual privacy principles with a single set of Queensland Privacy Principles aligned with federal law, and supports the proactive release of Cabinet documents for greater government transparency.
Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2022
This bill authorises $2.82 billion in supplementary government spending for the 2021-22 financial year. It formally approves expenditure that exceeded original budget allocations across 14 Queensland Government departments and agencies, as required by Queensland's Constitution.
Appropriation Bill 2024
This bill authorises the Queensland Government to spend $90.4 billion in 2024-25 to fund all state government departments and services. It also provides $45.2 billion in interim supply for early 2025-26 and retrospectively authorises $6.15 billion in unforeseen expenditure from the previous year.
Appropriation Bill 2019
This bill authorises the Queensland Government to spend $54.7 billion from the Consolidated Fund for the 2019-20 financial year. It is the standard annual appropriation bill that gives 28 government departments and agencies the legal authority to spend their allocated budgets on services for Queenslanders, and provides interim supply of $27.3 billion for 2020-21.
Criminal Law (Historical Homosexual Convictions Expungement) Bill 2017
This bill creates a scheme for people to apply to have historical convictions or charges for consensual adult homosexual activity wiped from their criminal records. It covers offences from before homosexuality was decriminalised in Queensland on 19 January 1991. Once expunged, a person is treated in law as never having been convicted or charged.
Penalties and Sentences (Drug and Alcohol Treatment Orders) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2017
This bill brings back a drug court in Queensland by creating a new sentencing option called a Drug and Alcohol Treatment Order. Designated magistrates can suspend a prison sentence of up to four years while the offender completes a court-supervised treatment program of at least two years. The bill also tightens the dangerous drug definition, clarifies that long prison sentences can never be 'spent', and gives extra court protections to victims of domestic strangulation.
Monitoring of Places of Detention (Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture) Bill 2022
This bill creates a Queensland law to allow the United Nations Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture to visit and inspect all places of detention in the state. It implements Australia's commitments under the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (OPCAT), ratified in 2017, by giving UN inspectors access to prisons, youth detention centres, mental health facilities, the forensic disability service, police watch-houses, court cells, and prisoner transport vehicles.
Appropriation (2020-2021) Bill 2020
This bill authorises the Queensland Government to spend approximately $60.86 billion in the 2020-21 financial year across all government departments. It also provides $30.43 billion in interim supply for early 2021-22 to keep services running until the next budget is passed.
Victims of Crime Assistance and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2016
This bill strengthens support for victims of crime in Queensland. It makes financial assistance easier to claim, extends it to victims of domestic and family violence including elder abuse and economic abuse, and creates a new Charter of Victims' Rights. It also introduces legal protection for sexual assault counselling records and automatically treats sexual offence victims as 'special witnesses' in court.