Queensland Law Reform Commission
OrganisationReferenced in 14 bills
Liquor and Fair Trading Legislation (Red Tape Reduction) Amendment Bill 2015
This bill cuts red tape for Queensland's liquor and tourism industries and repeals 14 obsolete church and community organisation Acts. It lets craft breweries sell their beer at festivals and farmers markets, gives clubs, bed and breakfasts and campdrafting events more flexibility, and introduces a new approval process for liquor events held in pub car parks.
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.
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.
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.
Criminal Code (Consent and Mistake of Fact) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2020
This bill makes changes across several unrelated areas of Queensland law. It clarifies sexual consent provisions in the Criminal Code following a Queensland Law Reform Commission review, bans online wagering sign-up inducements, strengthens alcohol-fuelled violence measures including longer police banning notices and tighter ID scanning, and ensures victims of solicitor dishonesty receive full compensation from the Legal Practitioners' Fidelity Guarantee Fund.
Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill 2021
This bill creates Queensland's voluntary assisted dying scheme, giving adults who are suffering from a terminal illness expected to cause death within 12 months the legal right to choose the timing and manner of their death. It establishes a rigorous process involving three requests and two independent medical assessments, with extensive safeguards to protect vulnerable people from coercion.
Termination of Pregnancy Bill 2018
This bill decriminalises termination of pregnancy in Queensland by removing century-old Criminal Code offences and creating a new health-based legal framework. Based on 28 recommendations from the Queensland Law Reform Commission, it allows medical practitioners to perform terminations on request up to 22 weeks gestation, with clinical safeguards for later terminations. It also establishes safe access zones around clinics and protects women from criminal liability.
Trusts Bill 2024
This bill replaces Queensland's 50-year-old Trusts Act 1973 with modernised trusts legislation. It clarifies what trustees must and can do, makes it easier to deal with common trust problems without going to court, and strengthens protections for people who benefit from trusts.
Limitation of Actions and Other Legislation (Child Abuse Civil Proceedings) Amendment Bill
This bill would have removed time limits on civil lawsuits for child abuse, allowing survivors to sue institutions no matter how long ago the abuse happened. It also let survivors undo past settlements forced by expiring deadlines, stopped institutions from getting cases dismissed over delays they themselves caused, and restored jury trials for these cases. The bill failed at the second reading and did not become law.
Trusts Bill 2025
This bill replaces Queensland's 50-year-old Trusts Act 1973 with a modernised framework for managing trusts. It implements recommendations from the Queensland Law Reform Commission's review, updating trustee powers and duties, strengthening beneficiary protections, and making trust disputes easier and cheaper to resolve through expanded District Court jurisdiction.
Child Protection (Mandatory Reporting - Mason’s Law) Amendment Bill 2016
This bill adds early childhood education and care workers to Queensland's list of mandatory child abuse reporters. From 1 January 2017, qualified staff, nominated supervisors and individual approved providers at child care centres, kindergartens and family day care services must report suspected physical or sexual abuse to Child Safety.
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.
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.
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.