How passenger transport laws work with other safety laws

New safety management framework for all road-based public passenger services

20 February 2026—The new framework starts. Existing industry service providers who continue to comply with existing framework will have 6 months to transition. New service providers must comply straight away.

20 August 2026—All industry service providers must comply, and safety management plans are mandatory.

This page explains the changes that will begin with the new framework. Learn more about the new safety management framework.

Road-based public passenger services are covered by their own specific laws, but these laws also work alongside other safety laws like the Queensland work health and safety laws (WHS laws) and heavy vehicle national law (HVNL).

What other safety laws cover

  • WHS laws cover general safety in all workplaces and to some extent applies to the passenger transport customer environment.
  • The HVNL regulates many heavy vehicle activities. However, it mostly lacks detail about managing risks that are specific to services that carry passengers.

Why passenger transport laws are needed

Passenger transport legislation fills the gaps that aren't covered by WHS laws or HVNL. These laws are made specifically for public passenger services and cover things like:

  • making sure operators and drivers are suitable
  • requiring annual safety checks for vehicles.

Enforcement and overlap with other safety laws

Transport and Main Roads (TMR) Transport Inspectors and authorised persons do not have authority to take enforcement action under WHS laws or HVNL. However, by having specific passenger transport laws TMR can enforce rules directly related to public passenger services.

There are a range of enforcement tools, including the ability to:

  • audit duty holders against requirements in relevant transport legislation
  • issue a direction for a duty holder to comply with relevant transport legislation
  • issue a penalty infringement notice (PIN) or start a prosecution for offences.

The chief executive of TMR can also take action to amend, suspend or cancel an operator accreditation, booking entity authorisation, personalised transport licences, driver authorisation or service contracts.

If more than 1 agency (TMR, Workplace Health and Safety Queensland, National Heavy Vehicle Regulator) is involved in a safety issue, only 1 will take the lead in enforcement action. The agencies will decide together who should proceed before any legal action starts.

Instances where there are inconsistencies between safety laws

The Transport and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2024 recognises that there may be instances where there are inconsistencies between safety laws. In this case, where a passenger transport safety rule and a rule from another safety law cover the same issue and it's:

  • possible to follow both, then you must follow both
  • not possible to follow both rules at the same time, then you must follow the other safety law.

This ensures there's no confusion about which rule to follow.

A person can't be punished twice for an act, omission or circumstance that constitutes an offence under the safety management framework and is also an offence under WHS laws or HVNL. However, TMR may still be able to take administrative action in the interests of safety by issuing a direction to comply or commencing show cause action against a person's accreditation or driver authorisation.

Read more about the relationship between safety laws in Chapter 6A, 67K of the Transport and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2024.

Also consider...