Civil Law

This bill removes the requirement for transgender people to be unmarried before they can update their birth certificate to reflect their sex reassignment. The change was prompted by the introduction of federal marriage equality in December 2017, which made the old restriction both unnecessary and potentially discriminatory under Commonwealth law.

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.

This Greens private member's bill sought to implement key recommendations from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. It would have created a legal duty for institutions — such as schools, churches, and care facilities — to prevent child abuse and made it easier for survivors to sue by reversing the burden of proof. This bill was discharged and did not become law.

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.

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.

This bill modernises Queensland's defamation laws as part of a nationally agreed reform. It raises the bar for defamation claims by requiring proof of serious harm, introduces mandatory pre-court notices to encourage early resolution, and creates new defences for public interest reporting and academic peer review. It also fixes a minor heavy vehicle enforcement issue.

This bill replaces Queensland's 2003 births, deaths and marriages registration law with a modernised framework. Its most significant change removes the requirement for surgery to alter the sex recorded on a birth certificate, replacing it with a self-declaration model. It also updates parenting registration rules for same-sex and gender diverse families, strengthens anti-discrimination protections, and tightens fraud prevention for name changes.

This bill sought to amend Queensland's Anti-Discrimination Act 1991 to make it unlawful to penalise someone for using traditional binary gender language like 'he', 'she', 'Mr', 'Mrs', 'husband' or 'wife'. It also aimed to protect organisations from being disadvantaged for only providing male/female facilities. Introduced by Mr R Katter MP, the bill failed at the second reading and did not become law.

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.

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.

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.

This bill implements key recommendations from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. It shifts the burden of proof so institutions must show they took reasonable steps to prevent child sexual abuse, and creates a legal framework so survivors can identify and sue the right defendant even when the responsible institution is unincorporated or has changed over time.

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.

This bill overhauls how Queensland authorises the use of restrictive practices — such as physical restraint, chemical restraint and seclusion — on people with disability. It replaces the current system where guardians approve these practices with a new clinician-led model under a Senior Practitioner, aligning Queensland with national standards endorsed by all other states and territories.

This bill makes major reforms to Queensland's anti-discrimination laws, implementing recommendations from the national Respect@Work inquiry, the QHRC's Building Belonging review, and parliamentary committee reports on vilification. It also strengthens sentencing for workplace violence, clarifies judicial immunity, and gives magistrates access to parental leave.

This bill modernises Queensland's defamation laws for the digital age by implementing nationally agreed reforms. It creates new protections for digital platforms and online service providers regarding defamatory content posted by third parties, gives courts stronger powers to order removal of defamatory material online, and extends absolute privilege to complaints made to police.