Quarrying

This bill strengthens safety and health laws for Queensland mines in response to the re-emergence of black lung disease. It delivers 15 improvements including higher penalties, proactive duties on company directors, a new civil penalty regime, mandatory safety systems for small opal and gem mines, and broader inspector powers.

This bill reforms the governance of Queensland's mining and resources safety regulator (RSHQ), expands the Land Access Ombudsman's dispute resolution role while keeping it government-funded, and streamlines mining tenement administration. It responds to a 2025 independent review that found gaps in RSHQ's oversight, accountability and enforcement.

This bill would have ended sand mining on North Stradbroke Island (Minjerribah) by the end of 2024, with land rehabilitation allowed to continue until the end of 2029. It amended the North Stradbroke Island Protection and Sustainability Act 2011 to shrink where mining could occur and to block any lease renewals beyond 2029. The bill was discharged and did not become law.

This bill strengthens safety and health protections for workers in Queensland's coal mining, quarrying, and metalliferous mining sectors. Prompted by the re-identification of coal workers' pneumoconiosis (black lung disease), it increases penalties for safety breaches, introduces civil penalties for corporations, requires company directors to proactively ensure safety compliance, and improves disease reporting and health surveillance for current and former mine workers.