Construction

This bill overhauls Queensland's building industry payment protections by replacing project bank accounts with a new statutory trust system that holds subcontractor money in trust. It also cracks down on fraudulent behaviour in the industry, introduces a demerit point system for building certifiers, strengthens regulation of architects and engineers, and preserves review rights for retirement village transition plans.

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.

This bill modernises Queensland's building and plumbing laws across several areas. It strengthens homeowners' rights to install solar panels and hot water systems free from aesthetic-based restrictions by developers and body corporates, expands permissible uses of treated greywater in large buildings, allows holding tanks for sewage and greywater under local government permits, and improves the QBCC's regulatory and enforcement powers.

This bill makes changes across five unrelated policy areas bundled into one piece of legislation. It restructures the 2032 Olympics infrastructure authority, repeals the Path to Treaty Act 2023 (ending First Nations treaty and truth-telling processes), winds back workplace safety entry powers for union officials, clarifies planning rules for State Facilitated Development, and strengthens the independence of the Public Sector Commissioner.

This bill strengthens Queensland's electrical safety laws by giving the regulator clearer, more accountable powers to ban unsafe electrical equipment and by confirming that electricity distributors can legally issue defect notices for unsafe equipment found at properties. It also removes an uncommenced workplace health and safety provision before it takes effect.

This bill modernises Queensland's building and construction licensing framework to support digital licences and electronic communications. It removes the requirement for the QBCC to issue licences as physical cards, allows documents to be served electronically, and streamlines safety incident reporting so licensees only need to notify one regulator instead of two.

This bill updates Queensland's electrical safety and workplace health and safety laws based on recommendations from five major reviews. It brings new technologies like e-scooters and battery storage systems under electrical safety regulation, strengthens industrial manslaughter laws to cover deaths of bystanders, makes it easier to prosecute serious safety breaches, and gives worker safety representatives new powers to document hazards.

This bill sought to create a comprehensive transparency framework for public-private partnerships (PPPs) used to deliver major Queensland infrastructure projects worth $10 million or more. Motivated by Queensland Audit Office findings and the Coaldrake review, it would have required government agencies to publish value for money assessments, justify commercial-in-confidence claims, and submit to regular Auditor-General reviews. This bill lapsed at the end of the 57th Parliament and did not become law.

This bill makes Christmas Eve a part-day public holiday in Queensland from 6pm to midnight. It recognises that Christmas celebrations often begin on the evening of 24 December and ensures workers are either able to refuse work after 6pm or receive penalty rates if they do work.

This bill makes wide-ranging changes to Queensland's planning, development and disaster management laws. It streamlines how priority development areas are managed, updates Building Queensland's infrastructure assessment thresholds, expands the Queensland Reconstruction Authority's role to cover all natural disasters rather than just floods, and improves various planning processes.

This bill establishes the Games Venue and Legacy Delivery Authority, a new statutory body to deliver venues, oversee village construction, and coordinate government responsibilities for the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games. It gives the authority significant powers including compulsory land acquisition, the ability to bypass normal planning processes, and the power to direct government agencies on transport infrastructure.

This bill replaces Queensland's 16-year-old plumbing and drainage laws with a modern framework. It simplifies the approval process by creating four clear categories of plumbing work, strengthens penalties for unlicensed and defective work, and introduces a new licence for mechanical services workers who install heating, cooling and medical gas systems.

This bill clarifies and simplifies Queensland's security of payment framework for the building and construction industry, which protects subcontractors from late or non-payment through project trust accounts and retention trust accounts. It also implements governance reforms for the QBCC and makes minor improvements to licensing and regulatory processes across six Acts.

This bill implements several 2024-25 State Budget revenue measures. It makes it cheaper for first home buyers by increasing stamp duty concession thresholds and doubling the First Home Owner Grant to $30,000, while raising surcharges on foreign and absentee property owners and extending payroll tax rebates for apprentice and trainee wages.

This bill reforms Queensland's planning laws to help deliver more housing faster, particularly in growth areas of South East Queensland. It gives the State new powers to acquire land for development infrastructure, fast-track priority housing applications, and create zones to manage growth areas, while also modernising planning processes and reducing red tape for businesses affected by urban encroachment.