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Public Briefing

The committee held a public departmental briefing on the Bill at Parliament House on 11 July 2016 from 10:00am.  The transcript can be viewed under the Related Publications tab.  Answers to questions taken on notice and further information and clarifications in relation to some answers provided by Departmental officers to the Committee at the briefing can also be found under the Related Publications tab.

Public Hearing

The committee held a public hearing on the bill in Brisbane.  The program and the transcript can be accessed under the Related Publications tab. 

Objective of the Bill

The explanatory notes to the Bill advise that the Bill would amend the Criminal Code and three health portfolio Acts. In particular, the Bill amends:

 

• the Criminal Code to standardise the age of consent for sexual intercourse to 16 years and replace references to sodomy with anal intercourse

• the Hospital and Health Boards Act 2011 to facilitate general practitioners having access to the Queensland Health databaseThe Viewer and enable more efficient disclosure of confidential patient information for research purposes

• the Public Health Act 2005 to:

  • allow health information relating to deceased patients to be disclosed for research purposes

  • enable schools to share student information with school immunisation and oral health service providers to improve the uptake of the School Immunisation Program and School Dental Program

  • make consequential amendments to reflect changes to the Australian Childhood Immunisation Register

• the Queensland Institute of Medical Research Act 1945 to facilitate the payment of bonuses to successful discoverers or inventors.

 

The Health and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2016 and Explanatory Notes are available from the Office of the Queensland Parliamentary Counsel at www.legislation.qld.gov.au.

The Hansard transcript of the explanatory speech for the Bill can be accessed here.

Other Information

Further information about the process for this inquiry will be published in due course.

You may wish to subscribe to the committee’s email list to receive the latest advice about committee inquiries:  click here to subscribe

Referral

The Health and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2016 was introduced by the Minister for Health and Minister for Ambulance Services, the Hon. Cameron Dick MP on the 16 June 2016 and has been referred to the Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee for detailed consideration.

The committee is to report back to Parliament by 6 September 2016.

Report

The committee tabled its report on 1 September 2016.  It can be accessed here

The second reading debate on the Bill is available here (from p3582).   To view footage of the debate, click the movie camera icon next to the speaker's name.   

Submissions

Submissions closed on Friday, 22 July 2016.  Submissions can be accessed under the View Submissions tab above. Departmental responses to the submission received can be accessed under the Related Publications tab.