Hon Steven Miles MP

This bill creates a new framework for publicly reporting quality, safety and staffing information about Queensland hospitals and aged care facilities. It also sets minimum staffing levels in public aged care homes and reforms the health complaints system to improve coordination between the Health Ombudsman and the national health practitioner regulator, AHPRA.

This bill was introduced in February 2020 in direct response to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. It extends the maximum period for renewing a declared public health emergency from 7 days to 90 days, giving Queensland Health greater continuity in managing the pandemic response.

This bill reforms mandatory reporting rules so that health practitioners can more confidently seek treatment for health conditions, including mental illness and substance abuse, without fear of being reported by their treating practitioner. It also doubles penalties and introduces imprisonment for people who falsely claim to be registered health practitioners.

This bill establishes Health and Wellbeing Queensland as a new statutory body dedicated to preventing chronic disease and improving the health of Queenslanders. With an initial budget of $32.955 million, it takes a multi-sector approach to tackling obesity, poor nutrition and physical inactivity, with a particular focus on reducing health inequity for disadvantaged communities, remote areas, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

This bill makes wide-ranging amendments to Queensland's health legislation. It strengthens governance of the public health system, embeds commitments to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health equity, bans conversion therapy by health service providers, repeals the outdated Pap Smear Register, updates private health facility accreditation requirements, and adjusts administrative arrangements for the Queensland Mental Health Commission.

This bill amends over 20 Queensland Acts to respond to the COVID-19 public health emergency. It provides temporary financial relief for workers, businesses, body corporate owners, and local governments, adjusts operational rules for health, disability, corrective services, and youth detention facilities, and creates new enforcement powers including court-ordered COVID-19 testing of people who cough, sneeze, or spit on others during an offence. Most provisions expired on 31 December 2020.

This bill was discharged and did not become law. It sought to make 50 cent public transport fares permanent across Queensland's Translink network by amending the Transport Operations (Passenger Transport) Act 1994. Introduced by the Opposition following a six-month trial that began in August 2024, which saw an 18.3% increase in patronage and saved commuters over $181 million in fares.

This bill gave the Queensland Government broad emergency powers to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. It strengthened the Chief Health Officer's ability to issue enforceable public health directions, introduced on-the-spot fines for non-compliance, provided flexibility for elections and planning processes, and allowed Executive Council meetings to be held remotely. Most emergency provisions included a one-year sunset clause.

This bill modernises the governance of Queensland's 13 hospital foundations and separately allows Queensland farmers to grow industrial cannabis (hemp) seeds for food. It repeals the outdated Hospitals Foundations Act 1982 and introduces updated rules for how foundations are run, funded, and overseen, while amending the Drugs Misuse Act 1986 to enable the hemp seed food industry.

This bill repeals Queensland's 80-year-old medicines and poisons laws and replaces them with a single modern framework. It streamlines licensing for businesses that manufacture, wholesale or sell medicines and poisons, introduces real-time monitoring of prescriptions for opioids and other dependence-forming drugs, and makes it easier for GPs to prescribe medicinal cannabis.

This bill adopts the Commonwealth Therapeutic Goods Act 1989 as a law of Queensland, ensuring all manufacturers of therapeutic goods — including sole traders and partnerships — meet national safety and quality standards. It closes a regulatory gap where small manufacturers trading only within Queensland were not subject to any therapeutic goods regulation.

This bill puts Queensland's greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets into law, committing the state to cut emissions by 30% by 2030, 75% by 2035, and reach net zero by 2050. It creates a framework for planning how key industries will reduce their emissions, establishes an expert advisory panel, and requires annual progress reports to Parliament. The bill was passed with amendment.

This bill reforms Queensland's councillor conduct complaints system based on a parliamentary committee inquiry that found the system was too slow and resource-intensive. It also strengthens councillor conflict of interest rules, introduces compulsory training for councillors, modernises advertising requirements, and makes amendments to support the Queen's Wharf Brisbane development.

This bill makes a range of amendments to health and other portfolio legislation. It repeals Queensland's separate medicinal cannabis approval process in favour of the Commonwealth system, creates a register to track occupational dust lung diseases like black lung and silicosis, gives Queensland Health new powers to require public notification of pollution events, streamlines radiation safety licensing, clarifies rules for tissue removal in medical research including for children, and ensures retirement village residents with freehold units receive payment within 18 months of leaving.

This bill amends Queensland's planning laws to address the housing availability crisis. It gives the State new powers to acquire land for development infrastructure, creates a streamlined 'state facilitated application' process for priority housing developments, introduces an Urban Investigation Zone to manage growth areas, modernises outdated Development Control Plans, reduces red tape for urban encroachment registrations, and updates various operational aspects of the planning framework.

This bill introduces spending caps for Queensland local government elections, limiting how much candidates, political parties and third parties can spend on campaigning. It was prompted by the Crime and Corruption Commission's Operation Belcarra findings about uneven financial competition in council elections and implements recommendations from a parliamentary committee inquiry.