Hon Meaghan Scanlon MP

This bill enables joint management of Moreton Island's national parks and conservation areas between the Queensland Government and the Quandamooka People, following the Federal Court's recognition of their native title in 2019. It transfers protected area land to the Quandamooka Yoolooburrabee Aboriginal Corporation as Aboriginal land while maintaining its conservation status through a jointly managed arrangement.

This bill bans single-use plastic straws, stirrers, plates, bowls and cutlery in Queensland to reduce plastic pollution. Healthcare facilities and schools are exempt to ensure people with disabilities and healthcare needs can still access these items when required.

This bill extends beekeeping in specified Queensland national parks for 20 years until 31 December 2044, delivering a government election commitment. It also creates new offences for impersonating rangers, strengthens enforcement powers for park officers, updates governance arrangements for the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area, and consolidates administrative provisions from regulations into the Nature Conservation Act.

This bill makes several changes to Queensland's waste laws. It bans the outdoor release of helium balloons and sky lanterns, removes the waste levy exemption for clean earth sent to landfill, introduces circular economy principles, sets a 2025 deadline for phasing out plastic items attached to shelf-ready products, and adds transparency rules for how councils report waste levy payments on rate notices.

This bill reforms Queensland's rental laws to strengthen protections for renters, stabilise rents and ease cost-of-living pressures. It also introduces mandatory continuing professional development for property agents, removes compulsory superannuation contributions for local government employees, and fixes technical issues with community titles scheme terminations.

This bill reforms Queensland's laws governing manufactured homes in residential parks to better protect home owners from excessive rent increases and difficulty selling their homes. It caps annual site rent increases at the higher of CPI or 3.5 per cent, bans market rent reviews, creates a buyback scheme for unsold homes, and introduces new transparency requirements for park operators. The reforms respond to concerns from approximately 38,000 home owners across 203 residential parks in Queensland.

This bill enables the federal Help to Buy shared equity scheme to operate in Queensland by referring specific legislative powers to the Commonwealth Parliament. Under the scheme, the Australian Government will contribute up to 40 per cent of the purchase price for a new home or 30 per cent for an existing home, helping low to middle income earners buy a home with as little as a 2 per cent deposit. Queensland is the first state to pass this legislation.

This bill clarifies and simplifies the trust account framework that protects subcontractor payments in Queensland's building and construction industry. It also implements governance reforms for the Queensland Building and Construction Commission, transfers qualification-setting powers to the department, and makes regulatory improvements across six building industry Acts.

This bill modernises Queensland's environmental protection laws by amending the Environmental Protection Act 1994 and several related Acts. It streamlines regulatory processes for environmental authorities and impact assessments, strengthens compliance powers for environmental inspectors, creates temporary authority provisions for emergency situations, improves contaminated land management, and bans mining in the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area.