Industrial Relations Act 2016
LegislationReferenced in 36 bills
Mineral and Energy Resources and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2020
This bill makes wide-ranging changes to Queensland's resources, energy, and water laws. It introduces industrial manslaughter offences for the mining and resources sector, reforms how the State manages mine rehabilitation and abandoned mines, tightens scrutiny of who can hold resource authorities, 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' — where third parties cold-call or pressure people into making personal injury or workers' compensation claims and sell their details to law firms. It also tightens rules on legal fees for speculative injury claims, reinstates a three-year timeframe for terminal workers' compensation, and fixes technical issues with Queensland's political donation caps.
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.
Domestic and Family Violence Protection and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2025
This bill reforms 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 electronic monitoring for high-risk perpetrators, and expanding video-recorded evidence across all Magistrates Courts statewide. It aims to reduce the operational burden on police while providing faster, longer-term protection for victim-survivors.
Work Health and Safety and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2023
This bill overhauls Queensland's workplace health and safety framework by implementing recommendations from two major reviews. It strengthens health and safety representatives, gives registered unions a direct role in workplace safety matters, makes it easier to prosecute the most serious safety offences by adding negligence as a fault element, and bans insurance against WHS fines.
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.
Queensland Productivity Commission Bill 2024
This bill re-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. The Commission was abolished in 2015 and its re-establishment was a 2024 election commitment. Its role is advisory only — it cannot make binding decisions, but the government must respond publicly to its inquiry reports.
Emergency Services Reform Amendment Bill 2023
This bill restructures Queensland's emergency services by transferring the State Emergency Service and marine rescue functions from Queensland Fire and Emergency Services to the Queensland Police Service. It establishes a new State Disaster Management Group chaired by the Premier to provide faster strategic oversight during disasters, and makes consequential amendments across more than 20 pieces of legislation to ensure workers' compensation, civil liability protections, and Blue Card requirements continue for volunteers.
Community Services Industry (Portable Long Service Leave) Bill 2019
This bill creates a portable long service leave scheme for Queensland's community services industry, covering workers in areas like disability support, family violence, homelessness, counselling and youth justice. It allows workers to accumulate long service leave credits as they move between employers in the sector, addressing the high job mobility caused by short-term funding contracts. The bill also fixes an anomaly where employees dismissed due to illness were denied pro rata long service leave.
Trading (Allowable Hours) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2022
This bill simplifies Queensland's shop trading hours system, strengthens protections for retail workers against being forced to work extended hours, and makes permanent the COVID-era rules allowing school P&C associations and teacher registration investigators to meet remotely.
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.
Energy (Renewable Transformation and Jobs) Bill 2023
This bill creates the legal framework for Queensland's shift from coal-fired to renewable electricity generation. It sets legislated renewable energy targets (50% by 2030, 70% by 2032, 80% by 2035), establishes new infrastructure frameworks to build transmission lines and Renewable Energy Zones, commits to public ownership of energy assets, and creates a $150 million fund to support coal-fired power station workers through the transition.
Industrial Relations and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2022
This bill overhauls Queensland's industrial relations laws following a five-year review. It strengthens workplace sexual harassment protections, introduces minimum pay and conditions for independent courier drivers, updates parental leave to include stillbirth leave and flexible leave options, and requires gender pay gap disclosure during enterprise bargaining.
Workers' Compensation and Rehabilitation and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2019
This bill improves Queensland's workers' compensation scheme based on a major independent review, strengthens protections for apprentices and trainees, and requires Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander representation on the TAFE Queensland Board. It also repeals the redundant Commonwealth Games Arrangements Act 2011.
Agriculture and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2019
This bill makes a broad range of changes across agriculture, biosecurity, animal welfare, forestry, racing and nature conservation law. Its most prominent measures double penalties for trespassing on farming land, strengthen biosecurity obligations for anyone entering places where biosecurity matter is present, clarify that leaving animals in hot vehicles is an offence, and expand access to farm debt mediation.
Work Health and Safety and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2017
This bill introduces a new criminal offence of industrial manslaughter in Queensland, with up to 20 years jail for employers or senior officers whose negligence causes a worker's death and up to $10 million for companies. It follows a government review prompted by the Dreamworld and Eagle Farm worker fatalities and also creates an independent WHS Prosecutor, expands workplace safety dispute powers to the Industrial Relations Commission, and brings back Workplace Health and Safety Officers.
Path to Treaty Bill 2023
This bill creates Queensland's legal framework for negotiating treaties with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. It establishes two new institutions: the First Nations Treaty Institute, an independent statutory body to help First Nations communities prepare for and participate in treaty negotiations; and the Truth-telling and Healing Inquiry, a three-year process to document the impacts of colonisation on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Economic Development and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2024
This bill significantly expands the role of Economic Development Queensland (EDQ) to tackle Queensland's housing shortage. It makes delivering social and affordable housing a core part of EDQ's mandate, gives EDQ new powers to acquire land and direct infrastructure delivery, and restructures EDQ as a more independent body with its own board, CEO, and employing office.
State Penalties Enforcement Amendment Bill 2017
This bill overhauls how Queensland collects unpaid fines through the State Penalties Enforcement Registry (SPER). It creates Work and Development Orders so people in hardship can clear their fines through unpaid work, medical treatment, counselling or courses instead of paying cash, while giving SPER stronger tools against people who refuse to engage.
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 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.
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, reforms the parole system based on the Queensland Parole System Review, creates a permanent firearms amnesty, and regulates the possession of replica firearms including gel blasters.
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.
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 staff the right to request conversion to permanent roles, and introduces positive performance management principles that must be applied before disciplinary action.
Electoral Legislation (Political Donations) Amendment Bill 2018
This bill sought to ban for-profit corporations from making political donations to candidates, parties and elected members at both state and local government level in Queensland. It was introduced by the Greens member for Maiwar, building on the Crime and Corruption Commission's Operation Belcarra findings about corruption risks from corporate donations. The bill's second reading was defeated and it 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 wage theft a criminal offence in Queensland, with penalties of up to 10 years imprisonment for stealing wages and 14 years for fraud against employees. It also creates a simpler, cheaper process for workers to recover unpaid wages through the Industrial Magistrates Court, including conciliation 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 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.
Respect at Work and Other Matters Amendment Bill 2024
This bill makes major reforms to Queensland's anti-discrimination laws, implementing recommendations from the national Respect@Work inquiry, the QHRC's Building Belonging review, and parliamentary committee reports on vilification. It also strengthens sentencing for workplace violence, clarifies judicial immunity, and gives magistrates access to parental leave.
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 Queenslanders after car accidents and pressuring them to make CTP insurance claims, then selling their details to lawyers for a fee. It also strengthens the Motor Accident Insurance Commission's powers to investigate law practices involved in claim farming.
Workers' Compensation and Rehabilitation (Coal Workers' Pneumoconiosis) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2017
This bill improves workers' compensation for Queensland coal miners and others with dust-related lung diseases, sets up a committee so families of workers killed or seriously injured at work have a formal voice, and strengthens electrical licensing safety rules. It responds to the re-identification of coal workers' pneumoconiosis (CWP) in Queensland.
Public Sector Bill 2022
This bill replaces the Public Service Act 2008 with a new Public Sector Act that modernises employment arrangements for all Queensland public sector employees. It implements recommendations from the Bridgman Review and the Coaldrake Report, extending employment protections across the entire public sector, creating new rights for temporary workers to convert to permanent roles, and requiring public sector entities to actively support the government's reframed relationship with Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Integrity and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2022
This bill strengthens the independence of Queensland's key integrity watchdogs — the Auditor-General, the Integrity Commissioner, and the Ombudsman — following the 2022 Coaldrake Report into public sector culture and accountability. It makes the Auditor-General an officer of Parliament, creates the Office of the Queensland Integrity Commissioner, and introduces a criminal offence for unregistered lobbying.
Superannuation (State Public Sector) (Scheme Administration) Amendment Bill 2021
This bill facilitates 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 into a non-statutory instrument, and ensures the merged entity stays headquartered in Queensland.
Industrial Relations Bill 2016
This bill replaces Queensland's Industrial Relations Act 1999 with an entirely new framework governing work for the state's public service, local councils and Brisbane City Council. It sets new minimum employment conditions, makes collective bargaining the main way to negotiate pay and conditions, introduces paid domestic and family violence leave for the first time, and makes Easter Sunday a public holiday from 2017.
Trading (Allowable Hours) Amendment Bill 2017
This bill rewrites Queensland's shop trading hours rules, replacing dozens of separate orders with a single set of hours written directly into the Trading (Allowable Hours) Act 1990. It allows more shops to open longer and more consistently across the state, adds new types of exempt shops, and protects workers who don't want to work the extra hours.