Committee Details

Committee’s report

The committee tabled its report on 25 March 2022.  The bill was passed on 31 March 2022.

About the Bill 

On 22 February 2022 the Minister for Health and Ambulance Services introduced the Public Health and Other Legislation (Extension of Expiring Provisions) Amendment Bill 2022 into the Queensland Parliament. The Bill was referred to the Community Support and Services Committee for detailed consideration.   

The purpose of the Bill is to:

• further extend the operation of essential public health measures implemented to facilitate Queensland’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic
• extend amendments to the Corrective Services Act 2006, Disaster Management Act 2003 and Mental Health Act 2016 to support the public health response.

The extended provisions follow previous temporary extensions effected by a series of Acts of Parliament in 2020 and 2021, under which the majority of measures are due to expire on 30 April 2022. The Bill would extend this legislative expiry date for certain Acts to 31 October 2022, or the day the Minister for Health ends the declared public health emergency, whichever day is earlier. 

The explanatory notes to the Bill state that most of the associated COVID-19 measures, including extraordinary regulations and statutory instruments made pursuant to the modification framework under the COVID-19 Emergency Response Act 2020, will not be extended from expiring, except for the limited savings and transitional arrangements necessary to facilitate the return to normal operations.

The temporary measures which are to be further extended include:

• amendments to the Public Health Act 2005 to increase powers for emergency officers and the Chief Health Officer to limit, or respond to, the spread of COVID-19 in Queensland, support testing and quarantine requirements and authorise other public health measures;
• amendments to the Corrective Services Act 2006, Disaster Management Act 2003 and Mental Health Act 2016 to support the public health response;
• a head of power in the COVID-19 Emergency Response Act 2020 to make regulations to facilitate transitional arrangements for the temporary framework.

Timeline