On 23 July 2020, the Building Industry Fairness (Security of
Payment) and other Legislation Amendment Bill 2020 (Qld) (with
amendments) (the BIF Amendment Bill) received
royal assent. The Bill amends various legislation, including the
Building Industry Fairness (Security of Payment) Act 2017
(the BIF Act) and the Queensland Building and
Construction Commission Act 1991 (Qld) (the QBCC
Act).
Readers may recall that a key concept in the BIF Act was the
introduction of Project Bank Accounts (PBAs) in an
effort to increase security of payment for subcontractors.
The implementation and effectiveness of the reforms under the
BIF Act, including operation of PBAs, was subject of review by the
Building Industry Fairness Reforms Implementation and Evaluation
Panel (Panel), which released a report in March
2019 making 20 recommendations to improve the underlying objectives
of the Act. Additionally, the Queensland Government established the
Special Joint Taskforce (Taskforce)
