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. Show 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— 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 websiteOur booklet, Finding Queensland legislation and information, is a helpful and detailed guide to finding up-to-date legislation on this website. Bills and explanatory notesWhat 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—
Where can I find Bills on this website?
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. 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 passedWhat 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—
To search by year of passage—
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 madeWhat 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.
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—
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.
Last updated 16 July 2021 at 10:41 |