The first Queensland Parliamentary sitting for the year was held last week with six Bills introduced including the Trusts Bill 2025.
Bills introduced
The following Bills were introduced to the Legislative Assembly:
- Trusts Bill 2025
- Crime and Corruption (Restoring Reporting Powers) Amendment Bill 2025
- Youth Justice (Monitoring Devices) Amendment Bill 2025
- Queensland Academy of Sport Bill 2025
- Crocodile Control and Conservation Bill 2025
- Locking in Cost of Living Support (50 Cent Fares Forever) Amendment Bill 2025
Trusts Bill 2025
On 18 February 2025, the Trusts Bill 2025 was introduced to the Queensland Parliament by Attorney-General and Minister for Justice and Minister for Integrity, Deborah Frecklington.
The Trusts Bill 2025 will replace the Trusts Act 1973 (Act) with a modernised and simplified legislative framework, streamlined with some new or substantially changed provisions to meet the needs of modern Queensland and remedy existing issues with the Act.
From January 2012 to December 2013, the Queensland Law Reform Commission (QLRC) conducted a full, comprehensive and independent review of the Act considering equivalent provisions in other jurisdictions and undertook substantial consultation with a wide range of stakeholders. The Bill broadly reflects recommendations from the QLRC.
The Trust Bill 2025 :
- modernises trustee powers and duties, including stating trustees minimum or ‘core’ duties that apply generally in administering a trust including: a general duty of care; a duty to act honestly and in good faith; and a duty to keep trust accounts and make them available to beneficiaries upon request;
- incorporates modernised definitions of capacity and impaired capacity, adopted from the Guardianship and Administration Act 2000 and the Powers of Attorney General Act 1998;
- prevents a person being appointed as a trustee if they are a child; an individual who is insolvent under administration; a ‘Chapter 5 body corporate’ as defined under section 9 of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth); or a person who is disqualified from being appointed as a trustee by a court order made under clause 168 of the Bill;
- does not permit the appointment of a child as trustee conditional on them attaining majority;
- continues to limit the number of trustees of a trust to four, unless the trust is a charitable trust. However, the limitation does not apply to trusts used for self-managed superannuation funds under the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993 (Cth). The Bill (clause 15) allows the court, rather than the Minister (as provided for in the Act), to approve more than four trustees being appointed for a trust;
- modernises provisions relating to the replacement of trustees;
- introduces a new clause which requires the trustee’s delegate to be notified when the trustee is removed, discharged or replaced;
- clarifies liability of a custodian trustee and a managing trustee;
- clarifying gaps in appropriation powers for trust property;
- modernising the provisions to reflect contemporary community standards including increasing the capital that may be applied by a trustee for the maintenance, education or advancement of a beneficiary;
- allowing the District Court, within its jurisdictional monetary limit, to exercise the same powers that are conferred on the Supreme Court; and enabling trustees of certain charitable trusts to apply to the Attorney-General for the approval of cy pres schemes, in lieu of making an application to the court.
This Bill amends the:
Succession Act 1981
District Court of Queensland Act 1967
Funeral Benefit Business Act 1982
Aboriginal Land Act 1991
Corrective Services Act 2006
Public Trustee Act 1978
River Improvement Trust Act 1940
Torres Strait Islander Land Act 1991
Building Industry Fairness (Security of Payment) Act 2017
Charitable Funds Act 1958
Guardianship and Administration Act 2000
Land Act 1994
Land Valuation Act 2010
Legal Aid Queensland Act 1997
Limitations of Actions Act 1974
Nature Conservation Act 1992
Powers of Attorney Act 1998
Property Law Act 1974
Property Law Act 2023
Retirement Villages Act 1999
Trustee Companies Act 1968
United Grand Lodge of Antient Free and Accepted Masons of Queensland Trustees Act 1942
Useful resources:
[WD1] Statement of Compatibility
The Bill was referred to the Justice, Integrity and Community Safety Committee on 18 February 2025. For further details regarding the inquiry process and submission, visit the committee’s website here.
Youth Justice (Monitoring Devices) Amendment Bill 2025
The Youth Justice (Monitoring Devices) Amendment Bill 2025 was introduced by the Minister for Youth Justice and Victim Support and Minister for Corrective Services, Laura Gerber.
Section 52AA of the Youth Justice Act 1992 allows a court, in certain circumstances, to impose on a grant of bail to a child who is at least 15 years, is charged with a prescribed indictable offence, and has either been charged with an unrelated prescribed indictable offence in the preceding twelve months or has been previously found guilty of at least one indictable offence, a condition that the child must wear a monitoring device while released on bail.
Section 52AA was introduced in 2021 to facilitate a trial of electronic monitoring as a bail condition and included a two-year sunset clause. This trial was extended to 30 April 2025 by the Strengthening Community Safety Act 2023 and included 15-year-olds. The Youth Justice (Monitoring Device Conditions) Amendment Regulation 2023 added three new trial sites, and the Youth Justice (Monitoring Device conditions) Amendment Regulation 2024 added 5 more sites commencing 28 August 2024.
The short timeframe between the August 2024 amendments and the April 2025 expiry date would leave inadequate time to evaluate data arising from the amendments.
Consequently, this Bill will enable a substantive review of the trial to be completed, including drawing as far as practicable on data accumulated as a result of the August 2024 amendments. This comprehensive review will inform government decisions about electronic monitoring for child offenders.
Useful resources:
The Bill was referred to the Justice, Integrity and Community Safety Committee on 20 February 2025.
Crime and Corruption (Restoring Reporting Powers) Amendment Bill 2025
On 20 February 2025 the Hon Deborah Frecklington, Attorney-General and Minister for Justice and Minister for Integrity, introduced the Crime and Corruption (Restoring Reporting Powers) Amendment Bill 2025 into the Queensland Parliament.
The objectives of the Bill are to restore the Crime and Corruption Commission’s (CCC) powers to report on corruption as it was considered to exist before the High Court decision (Carne v Crime and Corruption Commission (2023) 97 ALJR 737) and to ensure that the CCC may also make public statements about these matters; to safeguard against the release of information to the public about corruption matters in circumstances where the risks or harms outweigh any benefits to be derived from releasing the information; and ensure that any residual legal risk that might be attributable to the CCC and its officers in respect of the preparation and publication of past reports and statements is removed
The Bill includes other unrelated miscellaneous amendments to help improve the CCC’s efficiency.
Useful resources:
- Bill
- Explanatory Note
- Statement of Compatibility
- Explanatory Speech
- Committee
The Bill was referred to the Justice, Integrity and Community Safety Committee (committee) for detailed consideration.
Queensland Academy of Sport Bill 2025
The Queensland Academy of Sport Bill 2025 was introduced on 18 February 2025 by the Minister for Sport and Racing and Minister for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, Timothy Mander.
The Bill provides for:
Establishing the Queensland Academy of Sport (the Academy) as a statutory body, allowing the Academy to act with agility, efficiency and flexibility
Establishing a board for the Academy to ensure it performs its functions in a proper, effective and efficient way.
According to the explanatory notes, the Academy will be a statutory body for the purposes of the Statutory Bodies Financial Arrangements Act 1982 and the Financial Accountability Act 2009, and a unit of public administration under the Crime and Corruption Act 2001. The Right to Information Act 2009, Information Privacy Act 2009 and the Human Rights Act 2019 will continue to apply to the Academy as a statutory body.
This Bill amends the:
- Public Sector Act 2022
Useful resources:
The Bill was referred to the State Development, Infrastructure and Works Committee on 18 February 2025.
Crocodile Control and Conservation Bill 2025
The Crocodile Control and Conservation Bill was introduced on 19 February 2025 by Shane Knuth, Member for Hill.
The Bill provides for:
Placing greater value on human life by responsibly reducing the risk of crocodile attacks as much as possible.
Eliminating from our waterways any crocodiles that pose a threat to human life, while continuing to protect crocodiles from becoming extinct as a species.
Useful Resources:
The Bill was referred to the Health, Environment and Innovation Committee on 19 February 2025.
Locking in Cost of Living Support (50 Cent Fares Forever) Amendment Bill 2025
The Locking in Cost of Living Support (50 Cent Fares Forever) Amendment Bill 2025 was introduced on 19 February 2025 by Steven Miles, Member for Murrumba.
The Bill provides for:
Making 50 cent fares on the Translink public transport network permanent ensuring a lasting impact on public transport usage and cost of living.
Ensuring long-term affordability, provides cost of living relief, encourages public transport use and creates certainty for commuters, while also preventing arbitrary fare increases.
This Bill amends the:
Transport Operations (Passenger Transport) Act 1994
Useful Resources:
The Bill was referred to the State Development, Infrastructure and Works Committee on 19 February 2025.
Legislation passed this Parliament
Subordinate legislation
Subordinate Queensland legislation notified in 2025 is available online.
Subordinate legislation notified on the Queensland Legislation website from 12 December 2024 to 20 February 2025:
SL No.252 of 2024: Professional Standards (Australian Computer Society Incorporated Professional Standards Scheme) Notice 2024
Queensland Government Gazette
The Queensland Government Gazettes for 2025 are available online.
Parliamentary sitting dates
As indicated on the parliamentary website, the Queensland Parliament is currently scheduled to next sit from 11 March 2025 to 13 March 2025.
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