Queensland reforms worker safety agency
Sydney (14 May)
The Queensland Government will increase Ministerial oversight of Resources Safety and Health Queensland (RSHQ) – the state’s mine safety regulator – in a bid to improve the agency’s governance, it said on 14 May.
RSHQ is Queensland’s primary resource sector safety regulator. It has a range of responsibilities, which include investigating accidents, issuing safety directives and advice, and monitoring health trends.
Queensland’s government plans to transfer oversight authority over RSHQ from the Commissioner for Resources Safety and Health to a Minister-appointed Governing Board to improve accountability.
“We will now establish an independent, skills-based Governing Board to strengthen oversight, streamline advisory structures, and remove duplication,” Queensland Natural Resources Minister Dale Last said on 14 April.
The Government also plans to increase the power of mixed corporate-labour-technical advisory committees, it said.
“At every coalmine I go to, I hear concerns about how [RSHQ] is not proactive, does not apply the risk focus appropriately, and needs to work with industry to deliver the outcomes of improved safety,” Bryson Head, the ruling Liberal National Party’s (LNP) representative from Callide, said on 13 May, during the Parliamentary debate.
The Mining and Energy Union (MEU) opposes some of the Government’s changes to RSHQ.
“The MEU [Queensland] has serious concerns regarding aspects of the proposal, particularly the removal of the independent Commissioner role,” MEU’s Queensland District President, Mitch Hughes, told Lithos.
“The union’s position … is that Queensland’s mine safety framework should remain strongly independent, transparent and tripartite, ensuring workers, industry, and government all have a purposeful role in the system,” Hughes said.
In 2025, a review into RSHQ found that the Commissioner role should be retained with a more clearly defined mandate. “There is insufficient clarity regarding the role of Commissioner … and how [it interacts] with RSHQ,” according to the review.
The review also recommended that the state’s Resources Minister appoint a Governing Board to oversee RSHQ. It described the agency’s current governance model as intrinsically flawed and unable to provide adequate oversight and accountability.
Queensland Greens representative, Michael Berkman, opposed the Government’s selective adoption of the review's recommendations.
“This bill takes some steps towards implementing recommendations from the review of the Queensland Resources Safety and Health Regulatory Model. However … this is really a cynical way of introducing quite far-reaching administrative changes that not only were not recommended by that review but also actually run counter to it,” Berkman told Parliament.
The Queensland Resources Council (QRC) – a mining industry group – has backed the plan. “The reforms are an important first step towards a modern, well-functioning regulator and improving confidence in Queensland’s resources safety framework,” QRC Chief Executive Officer Janette Hewson said.
Labor Party, Greens Party, and Katter’s Australian Party representatives opposed the Government's RSHQ reform legislation. The LNP passed it without any opposition support.
By Avinash Govind