Legal Aid Queensland
OrganisationReferenced in 48 bills
Child Protection Reform Amendment Bill 2017
This bill rewrites large parts of Queensland's Child Protection Act 1999 to give children in long-term out-of-home care more stability and to strengthen cultural protections for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. It introduces a new 'permanent care order' lasting until age 18, limits successive short-term orders to two years, extends support for young people leaving care up to age 25, and simplifies how agencies share information to protect children at risk.
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.
Health and Other Legislation Amendment Bill (No. 2) 2023
This bill makes a range of changes across five health-related Acts to improve healthcare access, strengthen patient safety, and update health legislation. Key reforms include allowing nurses and midwives to perform early medical terminations of pregnancy, counting newborns as separate patients for maternity ward staffing ratios, and enabling better sharing of patient safety information across Queensland Health.
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.
Mental Health Amendment Bill 2016
This bill makes technical and protective amendments to the Mental Health Act 2016 before it starts on 5 March 2017. The key change stops statements made by a person during a court-ordered mental health assessment or examination from being used against them in civil or criminal proceedings, so patients can be frank with clinicians. The bill also tightens limits on detention, seclusion and restraint, fixes gaps affecting private mental health services, and makes small changes to the Public Health Act 2005 and Coroners Act 2003.
Child Protection and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2020
This bill clarifies that adoption is an option for achieving permanent homes for children in out-of-home care, responding to coronial recommendations following the death of toddler Mason Jet Lee. It requires mandatory case plan reviews after two years for children under the chief executive's long-term guardianship, to ensure better permanency options are actively considered.
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.
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.
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.
Child Protection (Offender Reporting) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2016
This bill merges Queensland's two child sex offender laws into a single combined Act, tightens the rules that reportable offenders must follow, and gives police new powers to inspect the phones and computers of offenders most at risk of reoffending. It responds to a 2013 review by the Crime and Corruption Commission and is aimed at helping police intervene before further offences occur.
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.
Justice and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2019
This bill amends over 30 Acts and regulations within the justice portfolio to improve how Queensland's courts, tribunals, and administrative agencies operate. It modernises the coronial system, strengthens protections for vulnerable witnesses, speeds up the handling of property offences, and fixes various anomalies across the justice system.
Inspector of Detention Services Bill 2021
This bill creates an independent Inspector of Detention Services to oversee Queensland's prisons, youth detention centres, police watch-houses, work camps and community corrections centres. The Inspector's job is to prevent harm by regularly inspecting detention facilities and reporting publicly to Parliament on conditions and treatment of detainees. The role is held by the Queensland Ombudsman but operates independently with dedicated staff and resources.
Child Protection (Offender Reporting and Offender Prohibition Order) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2022
This bill updates Queensland's child protection offender registry scheme to address technology-based offending that has become more prevalent since the COVID-19 pandemic. It strengthens police monitoring powers over convicted child sex offenders, particularly their use of digital devices, anonymising software, and online platforms.
Justice and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2023
This bill makes wide-ranging changes across Queensland's justice system, courts, electoral processes, and victims' rights. Major reforms include formally recognising the deaths of unborn children in criminal sentencing, allowing media to identify sexual offence defendants before committal, improving accountability for Justices of the Peace, modernising legal costs disclosure, and saving postal votes affected by envelope errors.
Youth Justice and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2021
This bill tightens bail rules for serious repeat young offenders, gives police new powers to scan for knives in Gold Coast entertainment precincts, and makes it harder for hooning drivers to avoid identification. It responds to a small cohort of recidivist youth offenders responsible for nearly half of all youth crime, tragic knife murders in Surfers Paradise, and ongoing community concerns about dangerous driving.
Court and Civil Legislation Amendment Bill 2017
This bill bundles many small justice-portfolio reforms into one Act. It speeds up how courts and tribunals work, brings Queensland's film and game classification laws in line with the national scheme, strengthens the Ombudsman, creates an automatic domestic violence notation on criminal records, and updates a long list of rules on wills, trusts, legal practice and retail shop leases.
Criminal Code (Non-consensual Sharing of Intimate Images) Amendment Bill 2018
This bill creates new criminal offences for sharing intimate images without consent, commonly known as 'revenge porn'. It criminalises both the actual distribution of intimate images and threats to distribute them, with penalties of up to 3 years imprisonment. Courts can also order offenders to remove or delete the images.
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.
Strengthening Community Safety Bill 2023
This bill toughens Queensland's response to youth crime by increasing penalties for motor vehicle theft (up to 14 years for aggravated offences), strengthening bail conditions for young offenders, and creating a new 'serious repeat offender' declaration that prioritises community safety in sentencing. It also establishes multi-agency collaborative panels to coordinate support services for at-risk children.
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.
Child Death Review Legislation Amendment Bill 2019
This bill reforms Queensland's system for reviewing child deaths connected to the child protection system. It requires multiple government agencies — not just Child Safety — to conduct internal reviews when a child known to the system dies, and establishes an independent Child Death Review Board to identify systemic failures and recommend improvements.
Police Powers and Responsibilities and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2019
This bill amends ten pieces of legislation to modernise police powers, strengthen domestic violence protections, improve prostitution regulation enforcement, and reform weapons licensing. It clarifies that police can access cloud-based and social media data from digital devices under warrant, and makes a range of operational improvements for the Queensland Police Service.
Relationships (Civil Partnerships) and Other Acts Amendment Bill 2015
This bill restores the right for adult couples of any gender in Queensland to hold an official civil partnership ceremony before registering their relationship. It renames the Relationships Act back to the Civil Partnerships Act, sets up a new scheme for registering civil partnership notaries who can conduct ceremonies, and modernises the Births, Deaths and Marriages registry by moving to electronic lodgement of birth and death records.
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.
Police Legislation (Efficiencies and Effectiveness) Amendment Bill 2021
This bill streamlines Queensland Police Service operations by cutting red tape and updating outdated processes. It lets senior police officers witness certain affidavits instead of requiring a Justice of the Peace, expands police powers to seek court-ordered access to seized digital devices, introduces faster saliva drug testing for officers after critical incidents, and makes several changes to weapons licensing administration.
Counter-Terrorism and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2015
This bill keeps Queensland's preventative detention terrorism laws from expiring and extends police counter-terrorism powers beyond state borders. It also widens who is responsible for fire safety in buildings, protects police review commissioners from being sued, and updates Queensland laws to recognise the new federal Australian Border Force.
Limitation of Actions (Institutional Child Sexual Abuse) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2016
This bill does four things at once. It removes the time limit for survivors of institutional child sexual abuse to sue for damages (even for abuse that happened decades ago), creates a modern class action system in the Supreme Court, closes a trust fund that helped pay for legal services, and makes permanent the scheme that lets Justices of the Peace hear minor civil disputes in QCAT.
Domestic and Family Violence Protection and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2016
This bill strengthens Queensland's domestic and family violence protections following the 'Not Now, Not Ever' taskforce report. It gives police more power to protect victims on the spot, makes protection orders last longer, lets agencies share information to respond to serious threats, and joins the national scheme that recognises domestic violence orders across state borders.
Director of Child Protection Litigation Bill 2016
This bill creates a new independent Director of Child Protection Litigation who will decide when to apply for child protection orders and run those cases in the Childrens Court, a role currently performed by the child safety department. It implements a key recommendation from the 2013 Queensland Child Protection Commission of Inquiry to improve evidence standards and accountability in child protection cases.
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.
Agriculture and Fisheries and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2023
This bill makes sweeping changes across agriculture, fisheries, biosecurity and animal management in Queensland. It bans dangerous dog breeds and introduces statewide dog control laws with tough new penalties, establishes mandatory onboard monitoring for commercial fishing vessels to protect the Great Barrier Reef, strengthens biosecurity emergency response powers, and modernises several other agricultural regulatory frameworks.
Police Service Administration and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2021
This bill modernises the security framework for Queensland Government buildings by repealing the State Buildings Protective Security Act 1983 and integrating Protective Services into the Queensland Police Service. It creates a single category of protective services officer (PSO) with standardised powers and introduces new accountability measures including a register of enforcement acts.
Child Protection Reform and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2021
This bill reforms Queensland's child protection system to give children in care stronger rights and a genuine voice in decisions about their lives. It also strengthens the blue card screening system by connecting Queensland to a national database and allowing domestic violence information to be considered in working with children checks.
Police Powers and Responsibilities and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2021
This bill makes broad changes across policing, corrective services, and child protection law. It tackles knife crime in entertainment precincts, overhauls parole rules for the most serious murderers, strengthens 'No Body, No Parole' laws, creates tougher penalties for harming police and corrective services animals, and updates child sexual abuse offence lists to include modern Commonwealth offences.
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.
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.
Guardianship and Administration and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2018
This bill modernises Queensland's guardianship laws to better protect adults who lack capacity to make their own decisions. It aligns the system with international human rights standards, strengthens safeguards against financial exploitation by attorneys and administrators, and creates new protections for people who report abuse or neglect. It also makes separate amendments to the Integrity Act and government corporation corruption reporting laws.
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.
Youth Justice and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2019
This bill reforms Queensland's youth justice laws to keep more children out of custody and ensure they receive appropriate support. It creates a new bail framework with a clear presumption in favour of releasing children, bans electronic tracking devices on young people, enables better information sharing between government agencies and service providers, and authorises body-worn cameras in youth detention centres.
Domestic and Family Violence Protection (Combating Coercive Control) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2022
This bill strengthens Queensland's response to domestic and family violence by implementing recommendations from the Women's Safety and Justice Taskforce. It recognises coercive control as a pattern of behaviour, modernises stalking laws to cover technology-facilitated abuse, reforms how courts handle competing domestic violence claims, and improves evidence rules so juries better understand DFV dynamics. It also makes unrelated changes to the Coroners Act, Oaths Act, and Telecommunications Interception Act.
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.
Corrective Services (Promoting Safety) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2024
This bill amends Queensland's corrective services laws to improve safety for victims, frontline officers, prisoners, and the community. It strengthens the Victims Register, cracks down on prisoners misusing phone systems to perpetrate domestic violence, extends police monitoring powers for dangerous child sex offenders, and introduces body-worn cameras and gel blaster protections for corrective services officers.
Justice Legislation (Links to Terrorist Activity) Amendment Bill 2018
This bill implements a national agreement to make it much harder for people with links to terrorism to get bail or parole in Queensland. It amends four Acts to create a presumption against bail and parole for anyone convicted of a terrorism offence or subject to a Commonwealth control order, requiring them to prove exceptional circumstances before being released.
Criminal Code and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2019
This bill strengthens Queensland's criminal law response to child homicide, following a Sentencing Advisory Council inquiry that found community expectations were not being met. It requires courts to treat a child's vulnerability as an aggravating factor in manslaughter sentencing, expands the definition of murder to include reckless indifference to human life, and increases the maximum penalty for failing to supply necessaries to dependants from 3 to 7 years.
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.
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.
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.