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COMMITTEE'S REPORT

The committee tabled its report, No. 5, 56th Parliament - Local Government (Councillor Complaints) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2018 on 9 April 2018. The Bill was passed by the Legislative Assembly on 17 May 2018.

ABOUT THE BILL

On 15 February 2018 the Hon Stirling Hinchliffe MP, Minister for Local Government, Minister for Racing and Minister for Multicultural Affairs introduced the Local Government (Councillor Complaints) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2018 into the Queensland Parliament. The Bill was referred to the Economics and Governance Committee for detailed consideration.

The explanatory notes stated that the policy objective of the Bill was to implement the Government’s response to the Independent Councillor Complaints Review Panel’s Report ‘Councillor Complaints Review: A fair, effective and efficient framework’ (the Councillor Complaints Report) to provide for a simpler, more streamlined system for making, investigating and determining complaints about councillor conduct in Queensland.

It should be noted that the Local Government (Councillor Complaints) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2017, which was substantially the same as the 2018 Bill, was referred to the former Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee prior to the dissolution of Parliament for the 2017 election. The former committee had not concluded its inquiry for that bill, which lapsed when the 55^th Parliament was dissolved. See former committee inquiry - here.

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