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Committee's report

The committee tabled its report on Friday 21 February 2020.  

View:    Report No. 32, 56th Parliament - Health Legislation Amendment Bill 2019
View:    Interim Government Response
View:    Final Government Response
View:    Health Legislation Amendment Bill 2019
View:    Explanatory Notes
View:    Explanatory Speech

About the Bill

On 28 November 2019, Hon Dr Steven Miles MP, Minister for Health and Minister for Ambulance Services, introduced the Health Legislation Amendment Bill 2019.  The House referred the Bill to the Health, Communities, Disability Services and Domestic and Family Violence Prevention Committee for detailed consideration.  The committee tabled its report on Friday 21 February 2020.

The Bill proposes to amend the Ambulance Service Act 1991, Hospital and Health Boards Act 2011, Queensland Mental Health Commission Act 2013, Private Health Facilities Act 1999, Public Health Act 2005, Private Health Facilities Regulation 2016 and Public Health Regulation 2018. According to the explanatory notes, these amendments are to implement policy initiatives and improve the effective operation of the legislation as follows:

• the Hospital and Health Boards Act 2011 to:
  • strengthen networked governance in Queensland’s public health system by:
    • requiring Hospital and Health Services and Hospital and Health Boards to have regard to the effective and efficient use of resources for the public sector health system as a whole, and the best interests of patients and other users of health services throughout Queensland; and
  • strengthen the commitment to health equity for Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islander people and strengthen the capability and effectiveness of Hospital and Health Boards by:
    • including as a guiding principle a commitment to achieving health equity and delivery of responsive, capable and culturally competent health care to Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islander people;
    • requiring each Hospital and Health Service to have a strategy for achieving health equity for Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islander people; and
    • requiring each Hospital and Health Board to have one or more Aboriginal persons and/or Torres Strait Islander persons as members;
  • allow the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Service within Queensland Health to disclose root cause analysis reports about reportable events to quality assurance committees; and
  • make minor technical amendments;
• the Ambulance Service Act 1991, to complement the amendment to the Hospital and Health Boards Act, to recognise the Queensland Ambulance Service and Hospital and Health Services have mutual obligations to collaborate;
• the Public Health Act 2005 to:
  • prohibit the practice of conversion therapy by health service providers in Queensland;
  • repeal redundant provisions for the Queensland Pap Smear Register, which has been replaced by the National Cancer Screening Register; and
  • correct a minor drafting error in the legislative requirements for Water Risk Management Plans;
• the Public Health Regulation 2018, to repeal redundant provisions for the Queensland Pap Smear Register;
• the Private Health Facilities Act 1999, to align the conditions of licence for private health facilities in Queensland with requirements under the nationally adopted Australian Health Service Safety and Quality Accreditation Scheme;
• the Private Health Facilities Regulation 2016, to support amendments to the Private Health Facilities Act to align conditions of licence for private health facilities in Queensland; and
• the Queensland Mental Health Commission Act 2013, to clarify the Mental Health Commission’s powers to employ staff and to allow the Commissioner to be appointed for a term of up to five years.

Timeline