Our service areas

The Department of Justice (DoJ) is a cohesive department whose teams work closely together to enable us to share our experiences and insights as we deliver a fair, just and inclusive Queensland.

The following divisions within DoJ support both our frontline services and delivery of government priorities:

Read our Organisational structure for more details and see below for more information about the branches that sit within each division, as well as the independent justice bodies we support.

Our department is also committed to acting in accordance with the Human Rights Act 2019, including acting in a way compatible with human rights and giving proper consideration to human rights in making decisions. Find out more about our commitment to human rights and the Queensland Government’s commitment.

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Corporate Services

Courts and Tribunals

The Courts and Tribunals division includes:

Coroners Court of Queensland
Magistrates Courts Service
Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal
Reform and Support Services
Supreme, District and Land Courts Service.

Courts in Queensland are impartial. This means they can settle disputes, deal with people who break the law, and determine the legal rights and obligations of individuals, business and government. While we cannot influence decisions made by a judge or magistrate, we provide administrative support to Queensland courts, as well as:

support for victims of crime
access to court diversion programs
administrative assistance and services to assist residential tenants
access to other government services.

For more information visit the Queensland Courts website, including accessing Queensland Courts publications.

Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal

The Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) is an independent, fair and efficient tribunal for all Queenslanders.

QCAT resolves disputes and makes and reviews decisions about matters including guardianship, residential and retail tenancy disputes, debt, consumer issues, trader disputes, building and minor civil disputes, matters affecting children and young people, discrimination and occupational and business regulation.

For more information visit the QCAT website.

Crown Law

The Crown Law division includes:

Commercial, Property, Insurance and Risk
Constitutional and Advocacy
Native Title, Resources and Dispute Resolution
Practice Management
Public Law.

Crown Law’s extensive pool of experienced lawyers advise and represent the Queensland Government in all areas of law affecting the public sector and the State of Queensland. Crown Law operates as a self-funded business unit of our department, providing legal services to the Queensland Government only.

Crown Law provides advice and legal representation in all areas of law affecting the public sector and the State of Queensland, and its core expertise spans 20 major areas of law, with a host of specialty areas also offered to clients.

For more information visit the Crown Law website.

Harm Prevention and Regulation

The Harm Prevention and Regulation division includes:

Queensland Worker Screening Services
Office of Fair Trading
Office of Liquor and Gaming Regulation
Regulatory Support Services.

Queensland Worker Screening Services

Queensland Worker Screening Services comprises Blue Card Services and Disability Worker Screening.

Blue Card Services

Blue Card Services (BCS) screens and monitors people who work with children and young people in Queensland. BCS also:

educates the community about the blue card system, legislative requirements and associated obligations
assists organisations with developing and implementing child and youth risk-management strategies
ensures regulated organisations comply with the Working with Children (Risk Management and Screening) Act 2000.

Find out more about Blue Card Services.

Disability Worker Screening

Disability Worker Screening (DWS) manages the application process for workers and volunteers seeking a clearance to deliver disability supports and services in Queensland. DWS assesses applications to determine whether a person is cleared or excluded from working in certain roles with people with disability.

The primary consideration in screening decisions is the right of people with disability to live their lives free from abuse, violence, neglect or exploitation. DWS plays an important role in creating safe environments and improving the quality of services and supports being delivered to people with disability.

DWS also supports NDIS organisations with their compliance and applicant requirements under the Disability Services Act 2006.

Find out more about Disability Worker Screening.

Office of Fair Trading

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) aims to deliver a fair and safe marketplace for Queensland consumers and businesses. This means that OFT:

provides information and advice about rights and responsibilities
helps resolve marketplace disputes
licenses a range of occupations
investigates unfair business practices
prosecutes unscrupulous businesses
provides information about product safety.

Find out more about the Office of Fair Trading.

Office of Liquor and Gaming Regulation

The Office of Liquor and Gaming Regulation (OLGR) regulates the liquor and gambling industries across Queensland in a way that minimises harm and ensures that—on balance—Queensland and the community benefit from gambling.

Find out more about the Office of Liquor and Gaming Regulation.

Regulatory Support Services

Regulatory Support Services (RSS) provides specialist corporate capability to enable, support and assure contemporary, outcomes-driven regulation and community education across the Harm Prevention and Regulation division.

Justice Policy and Reform

The Justice Policy and Reform division includes:

First Nations Justice Office
Justice Reform Office
Regulatory Policy
Secretariats Support
Special Projects and Statutory Reviews
Strategic Policy and Legislation.

First Nations Justice Office

The First Nations Justice Office (FNJO) was established as a result of the Women’s Safety and Justice Taskforce recommendations to develop and implement a co-designed, whole-of-government and community strategy to address the overrepresentation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the justice system.

Find out more about the First Nations Justice Office.

Justice Reform Office

The Justice Reform Office (JRO) works closely with other criminal justice agencies to lead reform across the criminal justice system.

Find out more about the Justice Reform Office.

Regulatory Policy

The Regulatory Policy branch provides:

policy and legislative development for the regulation of liquor, gaming and fair trading
harm-minimisation programs for the liquor and gambling industries
related statistical collections and research in support of liquor and gaming regulatory policy development.

Secretariats Support

The Secretariats Support branch includes:

Queensland Law Reform Commission
Queensland Sentencing Advisory Council
Public Trustee Advisory and Monitoring Board.

Special Projects and Statutory Reviews

The Special Projects and Statutory Reviews branch includes the Criminal Procedure Review Team.

Strategic Policy and Legislation

Strategic Policy and Legislation provides policy advice to the Minister, the Director-General, other state government departments and Australian Government agencies about all areas for which the minister and department are responsible. We often publish discussion papers, exposure Bills and similar documents for the purposes of community consultation.

Portfolio Governance and Executive Services

The Portfolio Governance and Executive Services division includes:

Ethical Standards
Executive Services
General Counsel
Internal Audit
First Nations Advisory Unit
Strategic Communication
Strategy and Governance.

This division provides behind-the-scenes support for the department.

The Office of the Director-General is the liaison point between the department and the ministerial offices of the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice and Leader of the House. The Executive Services branch provides professional advice and executive support to the Director-General by undertaking and coordinating policy research and analysis.

The Internal Audit Unit and Ethical Standards Unit also monitor and make recommendations about the operational management of the department’s divisions.

The General Counsel branch provides legal services to the Minister and executive management, and leads and promotes legal services policy and practice across government. It includes:

Women’s Safety, and Victims and Community Support

The Women’s Safety, and Victims and Community Support division includes:

Community Justice Services
Investment and Commissioning
Victim Assist Queensland
Women’s Safety and Violence Prevention.

Community Justice Services

Dispute Resolution

Dispute Resolution provides independent, responsive and effective assistance to individuals and groups engaged in constructive conflict resolution. We offer training courses in mediation, facilitation and conflict resolution.

We have 4 service streams to support our strategic vision of empowering people to resolve disputes, make amends and reconnect:

civil mediation
adult restorative justice conferencing
child protection conferencing
training.

Find out more about Dispute Resolution.

Justices of the Peace

Justices of the Peace provides information about training and appointing Justices of the Peace (Qualified—JP Qual), Justices of the Peace (JP) and Commissioners for Declarations (Cdec).

We maintain the register of Justices of the Peace and Commissioners for Declarations in Queensland, and register JPs and Cdecs and monitor their conduct.

Find out more about the Justices of the Peace, including searching for your nearest JP and learning how to become a JP or Cdec.

Office of the Commissioner for Body Corporate and Community Management

The Office of the Commissioner for Body Corporate and Community Management is committed to helping body corporate members, their committees and industry groups to understand Queensland’s body corporate legislation, and to avoid and resolve disputes.

We provide:

an information service
a range of forms for bodies corporate and individuals to use
a dispute resolution service (conciliation and adjudication)
a search facility to access adjudicator’s orders affecting particular community titles schemes
online body corporate training.

Find out more about the Office of the Commissioner for Body Corporate and Community Management.

Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages

The Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages is responsible for recording births, deaths, marriages, changes of name and adoptions in Queensland, and we issue certificates for these life events to eligible applicants. Family historians can also access historical birth, death and marriage records.

Find out more about the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, including how to register these life events, apply for a certificate or search your family history.

Investing and Commissioning

Legal Assistance Strategy and Funding

Legal Assistance Strategy and Funding (LASF) administers Queensland and Australian government funding to vital legal assistance services to ensure vulnerable and disadvantaged Queenslanders have equitable access to legal assistance.

Find out more about Legal Assistance Strategy and Funding.

Community Benefits Funds Unit

The Community Benefits Funds Unit oversees the Gambling Community Benefit Fund (GCBF), Queensland’s largest one-off community grants program.

Find out more about the Gambling Community Benefit Fund.

Sector Investment and Budget Operations

Information will be added about this team’s functions in the near future.

Victim Assist Queensland

Victim Assist Queensland (VAQ) works under the Victims of Crime Assistance Act 2009. VAQ helps victims of violent crime—including all forms of domestic and family violence (DFV)—to recover from their injuries.

VAQ:

provides financial assistance to eligible victims
supports the victim services sector through information, coordination, research, education and funding
assists government and non-government agencies to comply with the Charter of Victims' Rights and manage complaints made in relation to the Charter.

Women's Safety and Violence Prevention

Women's Safety and Violence Prevention delivers services that support victim-survivors and their children to be free of violence and ensure persons using violence are held to account for their violence and given the opportunity to change their behaviour.

We drive policy and reform to strengthen community and whole-of-government responses to women's safety and domestic, family and sexual violence.

Find out more about Women's Safety and Violence Prevention.

Independent justice bodies

Our department also provides varying levels of support to the following independent justice bodies that report either to the Minister or directly to Parliament.

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Department of Justice