Committee Details

COMMITTEE’S REPORT

The committee tabled its report to the Legislative Assembly on 1 September 2023. The report is available here.  

View:  Report

Debate of the Bill in Parliament:
Transcript 15 February 2024 (pages 275 - 312)

The debate can be viewed by clicking on the movie icon within the transcripts.

ABOUT THE BILL 

On 16 June 2023, the Hon. Annastacia Palaszczuk MP, Premier and Minister for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, introduced the Integrity and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2023 (Bill) into the Queensland Parliament.  The Bill was referred to the Economics and Governance Committee (committee) for detailed consideration.  The committee is required to report to the Parliament on the Bill by 1 September 2023.   

• View: Bill
• View: Explanatory Notes
• View: Statement of Compatibility
• View: Introductory Speech

The Bill represents the second key tranche of legislation (following the Integrity and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2022) to implement the Government’s response to recommendations from Let the sunshine in: Review of culture and accountability in the Queensland public sector (Coaldrake Report) and the Strategic Review of the Integrity Commissioner’s Functions (Yearbury Report). 

The explanatory notes advise that the Bill includes amendments to: 

• increase regulation of lobbying activity to address the public perception of undue influence on governments, including by clarifying what lobbying activity is and enhancing the regulatory role of the Queensland Integrity Commissioner
• amend the conditions for registration as a lobbyist to reflect expectations around completing training and managing conflicts of interest
• introduce a prohibition on a registered lobbyist playing a ‘substantial’ role for a political party in an election campaign
• enhance core integrity bodies’ independence by increasing the involvement of parliamentary committees in additional funding proposals and contributing to key appointments
• enhance the jurisdiction of the Queensland Ombudsman to consider complaints about, and initiate investigations of government services provided by non-government entities
• establish the Office of the Queensland Integrity Commissioner as a statutory body
• clarify the trusts that the Auditor-General is required to audit.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Further material relating to the Bill and the committee’s consideration process, including any written briefing material from the Department of the Premier and Cabinet, responses to submissions and answers to questions taken on notice, will be accessible under the Related Publications tab once made available.  

Call for submissions

The committee invited submissions addressing any aspect of the Bill, from all interested parties. 

Submissions closed at 5.00pm on Friday 21 July 2023.

PUBLIC PROCEEDINGS

The committee received a public briefing on the Bill from officials from the Department of the Premier and Cabinet on Monday 10 July 2023 (see timeline below). 

A public hearing will be held on Friday 11 August 2023 from 10.30am until 2.45pm in Committee Room 3, level 6, Parliamentary Annexe, Alice Street Brisbane and will be broadcast at Parliament.TV. 

TIMELINE