Magistrates Court
OrganisationReferenced in 14 bills
Vegetation Management and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2018
This bill reinstates and strengthens Queensland's vegetation clearing laws, delivering on the government's election commitment to end broadscale tree clearing. It removes the ability to clear remnant vegetation for agriculture, extends regrowth protections to freehold and indigenous land, expands watercourse protections to all Great Barrier Reef catchments, and significantly increases penalties for unlawful clearing.
Justice and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2026
This bill makes major reforms to combat metal theft with new offences and penalties up to 25 years imprisonment, streamlines the coronial system, increases stock offence penalties, gives media a legal framework to access court information, and doubles the District Court's civil jurisdiction to $1.5 million. It also makes technical updates across more than 25 Acts covering casino law, privacy, integrity, evidence rules, and judicial administration.
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.
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.
Police Powers and Responsibilities and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2023
This bill makes several changes to policing and emergency services laws in Queensland. It expands the Police Drug Diversion Program so people caught with small quantities of any dangerous drug — not just cannabis — can be diverted to health services instead of going to court. It also increases the maximum penalty for drug trafficking to life imprisonment, creates tougher penalties for evading police in dangerous circumstances, and introduces a new offence for assaulting fire and emergency services workers.
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.
State Penalties Enforcement (Modernisation) Amendment Bill 2022
This bill modernises Queensland's fines enforcement system by centralising the management of camera-detected and tolling offence fines under the Queensland Revenue Office and SPER, so people deal with one agency instead of several. It also reduces land tax for Special Disability Trusts, guarantees the security of rental bonds held by the Residential Tenancies Authority, and updates government confidentiality rules.
Tobacco and Other Smoking Products (Dismantling Illegal Trade) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2025
This bill gives Queensland Health significantly stronger powers to shut down shops selling illegal tobacco and vapes, and hold their landlords accountable. It responds to the rapid growth of the illicit tobacco and vaping market, which is increasingly linked to organised crime and poses serious public health risks, particularly for young people.
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.
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.
Tobacco and Other Smoking Products Amendment Bill 2023
This bill overhauls Queensland's smoking product laws to reduce smoking rates, combat the illicit tobacco trade, and protect more people from second-hand smoke. It introduces mandatory licensing for all tobacco and vaping product sellers, creates new offences for supplying illicit tobacco, expands smoke-free zones to outdoor dining areas, markets, and school carparks, and strengthens protections for children.
Tobacco and Other Smoking Products (Vaping) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2024
This bill gives Queensland much stronger powers to crack down on the illegal sale of vaping products and illicit tobacco. It creates new offences for supplying, possessing, advertising and promoting vaping products, with penalties of up to 2,000 penalty units or 2 years imprisonment. It also introduces powers to shut down non-compliant businesses and makes it a specific offence to litter vaping devices.
Public Records Bill 2023
This bill replaces Queensland's 20-year-old public records law with a modern framework suited to the digital age. It makes government records in the State Archives open to the public by default, strengthens protections against the destruction or tampering of records, and formally recognises the importance of public records for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Queensland Community Safety Bill 2024
This bill implements a wide-ranging package of community safety reforms across policing, criminal law, weapons regulation, youth justice, domestic violence protections, and road safety. It expands police powers to scan for knives in more public places, introduces Firearm Prohibition Orders against high-risk individuals, creates new offences to protect emergency workers, and establishes a framework for removing criminal content from social media.