Office of the Queensland Parliamentary Counsel
The Office of the Queensland Parliamentary Counsel (OQPC) supports democracy and the strategic direction of the Queensland Government and delivers on the government’s objectives for the community by providing legislative drafting services to all Queensland public sector agencies and access to legislation on the Queensland legislation website (www.legislation.qld.gov.au).
OQPC’s objective is to draft and provide access to Queensland legislation to the highest standard. OQPC was established as a statutory office under the Legislative Standards Act 1992 on 1 June 1992. Subject to the Premier, OQPC is controlled by the Queensland Parliamentary Counsel. The Office publishes its own strategic plan and annual report and is included as a service area in the DPC Service Delivery Statement each year.
Key achievements for 2021–2022
- Pursued excellence in legislative drafting and access by adopting best practice and making Queensland legislation easy to find, easy to understand, easy to use and maintaining open data arrangements.
- Significant legislation drafted and introduced within the reporting period included the:
- Public Health and Other Legislation (Extension of Expiring Provisions) Amendment Bill 2022
- Land and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2022
- State Penalties Enforcement (Modernisation) Amendment Bill 2022
- Personal Injuries Proceedings and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2022
- Animal Care and Protection Amendment Bill 2022
- Casino Control and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2022
- Revenue Legislation Amendment Bill 2022
- Industrial Relations and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2022
- Justice Legislation (COVID-19 Emergency Response-Permanency) Amendment Bill 2021
- Police Powers and Responsibilities and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2021
- Small Business Commissioner Bill 2021
- Brisbane Olympic and Paralympic Games Arrangements Bill 2021
- Evidence and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2021
- Health and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2021
- Child Protection Reform and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2021.
- Some significant subordinate legislation drafted and made in the reporting period included the:
- Acts Interpretation (Fee Unit) Regulation 2022 and various fee unit conversion amendment regulations
- Transport Legislation (Distracted Driver and Other Matters) Amendment Regulation 2021
- Transport Operations (Road Use Management – Driver Licensing) Regulation 2021
- Transport Operations (Road Use Management – Vehicle Registration) Regulation 2021
- Transport Operations (Road Use Management – Vehicle Standards and Safety) Regulation 2021
- Building Regulation 2021
- Medicines and Poisons (Medicines) Regulation 2021
- Medicines and Poisons (Poisons and Prohibited Substances) Regulation 2021
- Medicines and Poisons (Pest Management Activities) Regulation 2021.
- Cultivated a highly skilled and high-performing workforce by giving our people a range of opportunities for ongoing professional and personal development.
- Made effective use of technological resources to enhance the services provided. The Queensland Integrated Legislative Lifecycle System (QuILLS) has continued to evolve in ways that minimise manual processes, reduce the scope for human error, and optimise timely and accurate access to legislation and legislative information.
- Continued to work with DPC and other key partners on a process for the clear ordering of priorities within the government’s legislative program.
Our performance
Service standards in DPC’s 2021–2022 Service Delivery Statement were used by the department and the government to assess overall performance of the Legislative Drafting and e-Publishing service area. These can be found in Appendix A.
At a glance in 2021–2022
- 32 government Bills
- 269 total legislative instruments
- 138,720 total pages reprinted
- 3 private members’ Bills
- 5794 total pages drafted
- 7,995,231 legislative website page views
- 32 amendments during consideration in detail
- 776 total reprints
- 186 items of subordinate legislation
- 68 indicative reprints
OQPC Strategic Plan 2021–2025
OQPC’s vision is excellent legislation for Queensland.
OQPC’s purpose is to act as an independent statutory office that supports Queensland’s democracy and the rule of law by delivering Queensland legislation that is effective, accessible, and consistent with fundamental legislative principles.
The strategic priorities are:
- excellence in legislative drafting and access
- a skilled, flexible, and resilient workforce
- a healthy and inclusive workplace
- stewardship of innovation and change
- strategic engagement with partners.
The strategic objectives are:
Excellence in legislative drafting and access: we identify and adopt best practice in drafting Bills, amendments to Bills, and subordinate legislation, having regard to fundamental legislative principles and compatibility with human rights; ensure, identify and adopt best practice in making Queensland legislation easy to find, easy to understand, and easy to use; ensure timely access to Bills, legislation, and related information and maintain open data arrangements.
A skilled, flexible, and resilient workforce: we maintain a highly skilled and high-performing workforce; provide staff with a range of opportunities for ongoing professional and personal development; continue to support mental health and wellbeing; improve the effectiveness of our performance development processes; encourage and facilitate the sharing of learnings within and between teams.
A healthy and inclusive workplace: we further develop a workplace culture that fosters the health, happiness, flexibility and fulfilment of our people; improve regular internal communication, seeking views, listening to staff, clearly communicating and explaining management decisions, and openly discussing issues as they arise; encourage greater office-wide cohesion.
Stewardship of innovation and change: we identify and adopt best practice in making Queensland legislation easy to find, easy to understand, and easy to use; make effective use of technological resources and explore future drafting and publishing solutions to enhance the services we provide.
Strategic engagement with partners: we build stronger functional relationships and open channels of communication with DPC and Cabinet, Table Office, client departments and other partners; continue to work with key partners towards a process for the clear ordering of priorities within the government’s legislative program; and work with stakeholders to continuously improve the quality of access to Queensland legislation.
The OQPC Strategic Plan 2021–2025 is available at: www.oqpc.qld.gov.au
Future directions for 2022–2023
- Pursue excellence in legislative drafting and access to legislation by adopting best practice to ensure Queensland legislation is easy to find, understand and use, and maintaining open data arrangements.
Organisational structure
The current structure is summarised in the organisational chart below:
