Disaster Management

This bill restructures Queensland's fire and emergency services by splitting the former Queensland Fire and Emergency Services (QFES) into two dedicated services — Queensland Fire and Rescue (QFR) for urban firefighting and Rural Fire Service Queensland (RFSQ) for bushfire management and rural brigades. It also strengthens disaster management coordination by clarifying the Police Commissioner's role, creating new recovery coordination positions, and expanding the Queensland Reconstruction Authority's functions. Additionally, it requires smoke alarms in all registered caravans and motorised caravans.

This bill restructures Queensland's emergency services by transferring the State Emergency Service and marine rescue functions from Queensland Fire and Emergency Services to the Queensland Police Service. It establishes a new State Disaster Management Group chaired by the Premier to provide faster strategic oversight during disasters, and makes consequential amendments across more than 20 pieces of legislation to ensure workers' compensation, civil liability protections, and Blue Card requirements continue for volunteers.

This bill establishes the Queensland State Emergency Service (SES) as a standalone organisation under its own Act, moving it out of the Fire and Emergency Services Act 1990 and under the control of the Queensland Police Service Commissioner. It is part of a broader reform of Queensland's emergency services following an independent review, and formalises the SES's role in rescue, search, severe weather response, and disaster resilience.

This bill extended Queensland's COVID-19 public health emergency powers from 30 April 2022 to 31 October 2022, while allowing most other temporary COVID-19 measures to expire. It kept in place the Chief Health Officer's power to issue public health directions, emergency powers in corrective services and disaster management, and mental health patient leave provisions, with all measures tied to the ongoing public health emergency declaration.

This bill establishes Queensland's first Cross-Border Commissioner, a new statutory role dedicated to helping communities along Queensland's borders with New South Wales, South Australia, and the Northern Territory. The Commissioner will work across governments to resolve issues caused by different state regulations and improve service delivery for border residents, with a priority focus on disaster management capacity along the Queensland-NSW border.

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.