About Queensland legislation and this website

The Office of the Queensland Parliamentary Counsel (OQPC) drafts Queensland legislation in plain English for the Queensland Parliament and publishes it on this website. OQPC also prepares reprints (consolidations) of Queensland legislation for publication on this website.

All legislation published on this website from 2013 is authorised legislation. Before 2013, only Bills, Acts, subordinate legislation and reprints printed by the Government Printer were authorised versions.

What is on this website?

This website gives you free access to electronic versions of—

Queensland legislation—Bills, Acts and subordinate legislation (SL)
Legislative documents related to Bills—explanatory notes
Legislative documents related to SL—explanatory notes and regulatory impact statements
Reprints of Queensland Acts and SL—consolidated versions of in-force legislation
Other information related to Queensland legislation—legislative histories for Queensland legislation and reprints.

Most Queensland legislation published in 2016 or later is available in HTML , XML and PDF formats. Documents published before 2016 are available in PDF format only.

You are free to print copies of legislation yourself but you can also order printed copies of legislation and other documents on this website from the commercial printer authorised by the Queensland Government.

How can I be alerted to changes to legislation on this website?

If you’d like to be alerted when new legislation or particular reprints are published on this website, you can subscribe to Atom feeds.

Finding Queensland legislation on this website

Our booklet, Finding Queensland legislation and information, is a helpful and detailed guide to finding up-to-date legislation on this website.

Bills and explanatory notes

What is a Bill?

Bills are proposed Acts of Parliament and are available on our website soon after they have been introduced into Parliament.

There are 2 categories of Bills—

principal Bills for an entirely new Act (sometimes including related amendments to other legislation)

amendment Bills that only amend existing legislation and can usually be identified by the word ‘Amendment’ appearing in the name of the Bill.

Bills can be introduced by the Government or a private (non-Government) member of Parliament—

Government Bills are drafted to give effect to Government policy.

Private members’ Bills are drafted for a non-government Member of Parliament about a particular aspect of public policy. If passed by Parliament, they become Government Acts.

Where can I find Bills on this website?

All Bills introduced to the Queensland Parliament from November 1992 can be found via the Bills link—

Select the year the Bill was introduced to the Queensland Parliament.

Find the Bill in the alphabetical list.

Click the link to go to the status information page from where you can view the Bill in HTML format.

To view the Bill in PDF format click the PDF button at the top of the status information page.

Private members’ Bills are marked with an asterisk. All others are Government Bills.

Note: You may prefer to find a Bill by using one of the new features on our website, Legislative tables.

Explanatory notes for Bills—what they are and how to find them

All Government Bills and most private members’ Bills are introduced to the Queensland Parliament with an explanatory note that helps to explain what the Bill is about.

OQPC does not prepare explanatory notes. For Government Bills, explanatory notes are prepared on behalf of the Minister by the responsible Government department. For private members’ Bills, they are prepared by the member sponsoring the Bill.

Explanatory notes for Bills are uploaded to this website after the Bill is introduced.

After finding the status information page for the Bill, click the Legislative History button.
Scroll to the bottom of the page where the name of the Bill appears as a heading.
Find details and links to documents related to the Bill’s passage through Parliament, including the explanatory notes.

Where can I find information about the legislative history of a Bill?

Information about the legislative history of a Bill is available via the Legislative history button for the Bill.

Acts as passed

What is an Act?

Acts are laws passed by Parliament (after being introduced as Bills and assented to by the Governor). In Queensland, every Bill that is passed becomes a Government Act even if it was introduced as a private member’s Bill. Many Acts authorise the making of regulations or other subordinate legislation.

Queensland Acts are available on our website soon after the Governor assents to the Bill.

All Queensland Acts are given a number throughout each year to allow a unique identifier for citation purposes e.g. 2014 Act No. 37 or 2002 Act No. 77.

Unlike some other jurisdictions, Queensland no longer passes any private Acts, though a small number remain on the Queensland Statute Book.

Where can I find Acts on this website?

All Acts as passed by the Queensland Parliament from mid-1991 can be found either alphabetically or by year of passage via the Acts as passed link—

To search alphabetically—

Select the letter that begins the first word in the name of the Act.
Find the relevant Act from the alphabetical list (using the arrows in the ‘Title’ cell if you want to reverse the alphabetical order).
Click the link to go to the status information page from where you can view the Act in HTML format.
Find the government agency and Minister responsible for administering the Act at the top of the status information page.
Click the Subordinate legislation button to reveal the list of all subordinate legislation made under the Act.
To view the Act in PDF format click the PDF button at the top of the status information page.

To search by year of passage—

Select the year the Act was passed by the Queensland Parliament.
Find the relevant Act by sorting entries alphabetically (using the arrows in the ‘Title’ cell) or numerically (using the arrows in the ‘No.’ cell).
Click the link to go to the status information page from where you can view the Act in HTML format.
Find the government agency and Minister responsible for administering the Act at the top of the status information page.
Click the Subordinate legislation button to reveal the list of all subordinate legislation made under the Act.
To view the Act in PDF format click the PDF button at the top of the status information page.

Note: You may prefer to find an Act by using one of the new features on our website, Legislative tables.

Where can I find information about the legislative history of an Act?

Information about the legislative history of an Act is available via the Legislative history button for the Act.

‘Backcaptured’ copies of Acts

Copies of Acts as passed prior to mid-1991 have been reproduced by scanning annual volumes of Queensland Acts and are currently available as PDF files on this website. Copies of Acts passed before 1963 are gradually being uploaded to this website as quality assurance checking is completed. The quality of these scanned Acts does, however, depend on the condition of the original pages that were scanned.

Follow the steps for finding later Acts to also find PDF copies of backcaptured Acts, which are searchable. However, legislative histories for backcaptured Acts are not available.

Subordinate legislation as made

What is subordinate legislation (SL)?

SL is a law made by an entity other than Parliament under a framework established by the Statutory Instruments Act 1992.The power to make the SL is delegated to the entity under an Act of the Parliament, known as the authorising Act. SL must be tabled in Parliament where it can be disallowed by resolution.

SL takes effect when it is ‘notified’ by publication on this website. (Before September 2013, SL was notified by publication in the Queensland Government gazette.)

Most SL is notified on this website by 10:00am on Friday mornings. However, notification can be arranged on other days and for other times.

The most common types of SL are—

regulations made by the Governor in Council
proclamations that commence provisions of an Act
rules, such as court rules
notices
by-laws.

Some SL can be further categorised as—

principal SL that is entirely new (often repealing and replacing an older SL and sometimes including related amendments to other legislation)

amendment SL that only amends existing legislation and can usually be identified by the word ‘Amendment’ appearing in the name of the SL.

Where can I find SL on this website?

Weekly notifications

You can find a list of SL notified each week via the Notifications link.

All reprints for subordinate legislation

All SL as made from mid-1991 can be found either alphabetically or by year of notification via the SL as made link—

To search alphabetically—

Select the letter that begins the first word in the name of the SL.

Find the relevant SL from the alphabetical list (using the arrows in the ‘Title’ cell if you want to reverse the alphabetical order).

Click the link to go to the status information page from where you can view the SL in HTML format.

Click the Authorising Act button to reveal the Act that authorises the SL.

To view the SL in PDF format click the PDF button at the top of the status information page.

To search by year of notification—

Select the year the SL was notified.

Find the relevant SL by sorting entries alphabetically (using the arrows in the ‘Title’ cell) or numerically (using the arrows in the ‘No.’ cell).

Click the link to go to the status information page from where you can view the SL in HTML format.

Click the Authorising Act button to reveal the Act that authorises the SL.

To view the SL in PDF format click the PDF button at the top of the status information page.

Note: You may prefer to find an SL by using one of the new features on our website, Legislative tables.

Where can I find information about the legislative history of an SL?

Information about the legislative history of an SL is available via the Legislative history button for the SL.

‘Backcaptured’ copies of statutory instruments

Copies of statutory instruments made from 1952 to mid-1991 are being reproduced by scanning annual volumes of Queensland statutory instruments and will be uploaded as PDF files to this website in the future.

Follow the steps for finding later SL to also find PDF copies of backcaptured statutory instruments, which are searchable. However, legislative histories for backcaptured SL are not available.

Explanatory notes and regulatory impact statements for SL—what they are and how to find them

All SL must have an explanatory note that helps to explain what the SL is about. (Before May 2011 this was not required.)

SL is also required to have a regulatory impact statement if it is likely to impose appreciable costs on the community or a part of the community.

OQPC does not prepare explanatory notes or regulatory impact statements—they are prepared by the responsible government department and uploaded to this website when the SL is notified.

After finding the status information page for the SL, click the Legislative History button.

Scroll to the bottom of the page where the name of the SL appears as a heading for the second time.

Find links to the SL’s Explanatory notes and regulatory impact statement (if one was prepared).

Last updated 1 July 2022 at 18:25

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