False

Committee's report

The committee tabled its report on 12 February 2021. The committee tabled an erratum to the report on 22 February 2021. The Bill was passed by the Queensland Parliament on 23 March 2021.

About the Bill

On 3 December 2020, the Minister for Children and Youth Justice and Minister for Multicultural Affairs introduced the Child Protection and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2020 (Bill) into the Queensland Parliament.  The Bill was referred to the Community Support and Services Committee for detailed consideration and report by Friday, 12 February 2021.

On 2 June 2020, Deputy State Coroner Bentley of the Coroners Court of Queensland, delivered her findings following the inquest into the death of Mason Jet Lee. Deputy State Coroner Bentley made six recommendations, including that the government consider whether the Adoption Act 2009 (Qld) should similarly reflect the 2018 amendments to the Adoption Act 2000 (NSW), expecting children to be permanently placed through out of home adoptions within 24 months of entering the department’s care. The Bill responds to this recommendation.

The objectives of the Bill are to:

• enhance the approach to permanency under the Child Protection Act 1999;
• clarify that adoption is an option for achieving permanency for children in care, as part of the suite of alternative long-term care options available; and
• clarify the importance of and promote alternative permanency options for children subject to a child protection order granting long-term guardianship to the chief executive.

The Bill also includes a technical amendment to the Adoption Act 2009 to allow the chief executive of the Department of Children, Youth Justice and Multicultural Affairs to apply for final adoption orders for a small number of children from overseas.

The Bill was originally referred to the Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee (LACSC) prior to the dissolution of Parliament for the 2020 election. The LACSC tabled their report on that Bill on 28 August 2020 but the Bill lapsed before it was debated in the Parliament when the 56th Parliament was dissolved. The subject Bill is substantially the same as the previous Bill. All documents relating to the former committee's inquiry are available here.

Timeline