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COMMITTEE'S REPORT

The committee tabled its report on the COVID-19 Emergency Response and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2021 on 14 April 2021. The Bill was passed on 20 April 2021.

ABOUT THE BILL

On 11 March 2021, the COVID-19 Emergency Response and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2021 (the Bill) was introduced into the Parliament by the Hon Shannon Fentiman MP, Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Minister for Women and Minister for the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence. The Bill was declared an urgent bill and referred to the Economics and Governance Committee for its consideration and report by 14 April 2021.

Objectives of the Bill

Following on from the recent extension of legislative measures to facilitate the ongoing health response to COVID-19 (including the extension of emergency powers for the Chief Health Officer), the Bill proposes to:

• also extend the operation of various legislative measures to respond to other impacts of the COVID-19 public health emergency (COVID-19 legislation), to apply up to 30 September 2021, or on an earlier date as prescribed
• allow local governments to decide, by resolution at a meeting other than a budget meeting, what rates and charges are to be levied for the 2021-22 financial year (including providing for decisions to be revisited later during the year)
• provide for various measures to facilitate the holding of local government by-elections and fresh elections in a way that helps minimise serious risks to the health and safety of persons cause by the COVID-19 public health emergency, including providing for penalty infringement notices to be issued for certain electoral offences
• extend the operation of temporary local government and committee meeting provisions which allow such meetings to be held via audio/audio visual link, allow meetings to be closed to the public for health and safety reasons associated with COVID-19, and require real-time public viewing or listening to meetings where audio visual links are used.

Temporary legislative measures which are to be extended by the Bill include provisions relating to:

• the planning framework and environmental approvals
• the operation of bodies corporate
• rights and obligations under negotiated lease agreements and rent relief arrangements for retail shops and commercial leases
• the ongoing operation of the Queensland Small Business Commissioner
• regulation making powers in relation to the operation of the rooming and accommodation and manufactured homes sectors
• public health related provisions governing the care of adults with a cognitive or intellectual disability, the delivery of mental health services, and the operation of prisons and youth detention centres
• liquor sales (allowing temporary takeaway liquor sales by operators of licensed venues disrupted by COVID-19 and removing restrictions on artisan distillers’ sales of liquor to the public)
• court-ordered COVID-19 testing and the provision of test results to specified persons
• regulation-making powers regarding physical contact between persons, proceedings of courts/tribunals, and authorisations to do things (such as making statutory declarations, witnessing documents or publishing notices) electronically.

submissions

Submissions are now closed. Submissions accepted by the committee can be accessed under the "View Submissions" tab.

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