MEDIA STATEMENT: Trust laws modernised after half a century

Trust laws modernised after half a century 

• Trusts Bill 2025 passed in Parliament, modernising Queensland legislation.
• New bill replaces outdated Act that was introduced more than 50 years ago.
• Gives effect to recommendations made by the Queensland Law Reform Commission. 

The Crisafulli Government has today passed a new, modernised Trusts Bill to repeal and replace Queensland’s outdated legislation.  

The Trusts Bill 2025 will replace the current, half-century-old Trusts Act 1973, with simplified legislation that removes obsolete provisions to better reflect community standards.  

The legislation reflects the recommendations that were made by the Queensland Law Reform Commission nearly a decade ago, but never enacted under Labor. It also reflects outcomes of more recent consultation with key government, non-government, and legal stakeholders. 

The Bill provides trustees with broad powers to deal with trust property, as well as imposing new minimum statutory requirements on trustees to exercise care, diligence and skill when managing trust property. 

It also deals with a range of important matters, including restrictions on the appointment, discharge, and removal of trustees. 

The new laws will also simplify the process for trustees of smaller charitable trusts to vary the purposes of the trust in circumstances where its original purposes cannot be fulfilled. 

Attorney-General and Minister for Justice and Minister for Integrity Deb Frecklington said trusts played an important role in the lives of many Queenslanders and that the new Bill will bring this fundamental area of law into the 21st century.  

“While many Queenslanders may be involved with a trust through a small business or family structure, there are so many more examples where they might interact with a trust in their everyday lives without realising it, including giving to charitable causes,” the Attorney-General said. 

“It is critical we have legislation that reflects current community standards with common-sense provisions.    

“Labor sat on their hands for the past decade, even though the existing Trusts Act had not been significantly updated since it was introduced in the 1970s and some of the provisions were relatively unchanged from their origins in various English Acts in the 1800s. 

“The new legislation has been carefully crafted to give effect to recommendations made by the Queensland Law Reform Commission and I thank key legal, charity and trusts stakeholders who have contributed to its development.” 

The Act will commence on a day yet to be proclaimed, allowing for sufficient lead in time before the new provisions take effect.  

ENDS 

MEDIA CONTACT: Molly Snaylam 0448 320 555