Under the Coroners Act 2003 (the Act), coroners are responsible for investigating reportable deaths that occur in Queensland. Reportable deaths include those that are unnatural, such as accidents, suicides or homicides, deaths that have occurred in prison or in care or have unknown causes.

The coroner's primary responsibility is to make formal findings in respect of the death, namely who, when, where and how the death occurred and what caused the death. The coroner also has an overarching role to identify whether the death could have been prevented and if so, to examine opportunities for future death prevention. This may include policy or procedural changes to improve public safety or the administration of justice.

In Queensland, the coronial system’s efficiency and effectiveness relies on services from multiple stakeholders. The Queensland Police Service's Coronial Support Unit assists coronial investigations, Queensland Health's Forensic and Scientific Services provide coronial autopsy and clinical advisory services and the Department of Justice and Attorney-General's Court Services provide legal and administrative support.

Since 2007–08, the number of deaths reported to the coroner for investigation have increased by 50 per cent, from 3 514 to 5 287 in 2015–16. Demand for Queensland's coronial services is likely to increase with the states growing and aging population. Delays and inefficiencies to coronial investigations can impact families and loved ones seeking closure and add unnecessary cost to the state. A failure to act on coroner recommendations can potentially put lives at risk.

In Queensland, most electricity is generated, transmitted, and distributed by state government-owned corporations and controlled entities. These include CS Energy, Stanwell, Powerlink, Energy Queensland, Ergon Energy, and 30 subsidiaries.

CS Energy and Stanwell are electricity generators. They produce electricity and sell into the National Electricity Market. Powerlink transmits electricity from generators to Energy Queensland, the distributor. Energy Queensland then distributes electricity from the transmission network to consumers. From there, electricity retailers purchase and sell electricity to households and businesses.

In Queensland, water is primarily used by households, agriculture, mining, electricity generation, tourism, and manufacturing industries. Queensland’s state and local government owned water entities provide water throughout the state, and comprise bulk water suppliers, distributor-retailers, local governments, and smaller water boards.

Seqwater sells treated bulk water to local council regions within South East Queensland. This water is sold either directly to councils or through Distributor-Retailer Authorities (Unitywater and Queensland Urban Utilities).

Outside of South East Queensland, SunWater operates much of the bulk water infrastructure that supplies irrigators and industrial customers. For retail customers, water is sourced, treated and distributed by local government owned infrastructure (water boards).

Australia is home to between 600 000 and 700 000 species of wildlife, many of which are found nowhere else in the world. Changes to landscape and habitats from human activity has put some of this unique wildlife at risk. Over the last 200 years, many species of plants and animals have become extinct. A range of management and conservation measures are in place for the wildlife whose survival is under threat.

The Nature Conservation Act 1992 defines threatened wildlife as native wildlife that is extinct in the wild, endangered, or vulnerable. In Queensland, there are currently 955 species listed as threatened. Of these species, around 400 are listed as threatened nationally under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.

The Department of Environment and Science has responsibility for managing and conserving threatened wildlife in Queensland via the Nature Conservation Act 1992. Other government agencies, the community, and industry sectors also undertake activities relating to threatened wildlife.

Queensland’s seven transport entities play a critical role in delivering a single integrated transport network that connects Queensland’s people, and facilitates a growing economy.

Direction and oversight of the state’s transport sector is provided by the Department of Transport and Main Roads (DTMR). The department’s primary role is to plan, manage and deliver Queensland’s integrated transport environment to achieve sustainable transport solutions for road, rail, air and sea. DTMR also provides oversight of Queensland Rail Group and Port entities. Queensland Rail Group is Queensland’s railway manager and operator, servicing the passenger, tourism, resources and freight customer markets. The port entities are part of Queensland’s network of 19 ports, which ranges from small community ports to large coal export terminals and a capital city multi-cargo port.

The Queensland healthcare system is transforming to meet the pressures of an ageing population, the growing burden of chronic conditions, and changing consumer expectations.
 
In a digital hospital, processes are streamlined to create a ‘paper light’ approach, integrating electronic medical records (ieMR) with clinic devices, workflows, and processes. An electronic medical record is one of many applications that contribute to a digital hospital. The government has set a target for twenty-seven hospitals to fully implement the ieMR solution by June 2020.
 
Electronic medical records provide timely, accessible and legible information about patients at the point of care. It also provides the foundation for future transformations in health care delivery, like the ability to gain greater insights and decision support from the system’s data to improve the quality of patient care and operational efficiencies.

Queensland Treasury has developed a market-led proposals framework as an initiative of the government’s economic plan to create jobs and stimulate the economy. The state government intended for market-led proposals to harness innovative ideas and funding from the private sector to deliver projects faster. An essential element of this approach involves contracting exclusively with providers, rather than going through a competitive tender process. 

In July 2017, the government released revised specific Market-Led Proposal Guidelines. These guidelines sit within the Project Assessment Framework (PAF). There are four stages to the assessment process. The proposal needs to pass a stage before it can progress to the next one. When assessing market-led proposals, the responsible government agency needs to satisfy itself that the proposed project will deliver value for money and positive outcomes for the state, and that it could not deliver a better outcome under a competitive tender process. The agency also needs to consider alignment with government priority, policy and community needs, whether direct negotiation can be justified, the cost, risk, feasibility, and the proponent’s capacity and capability to deliver the project.

Health service planning aims to improve service delivery to better meet the health needs of the population. It is future orientated and usually adopts a medium- to long-term (10–15 years) perspective. Good planning helps to make the best use of current and future health resources including funding, staff and infrastructure.

Delivering health services occurs in an increasingly dynamic environment with ever changing community expectations, government priorities and technological advances. Health budgets are constrained, yet there are ever-increasing pressures and demands on the public health system.

The Department of Health is responsible under the Hospital and Health Boards Act 2011 for statewide planning for the public health system. Hospital and Health Services must contribute to, and implement, statewide service plans that apply to them. They must also undertake further service planning that aligns with these plans.

Queensland Health’s strategy—Your health, Queensland's future: Advancing health 2026—identifies sustainability as one of five underpinning principles. This includes ensuring available resources are used efficiently and effectively for current and future generations.
 

Food safety is an important aspect of public health and wellbeing. Breaches in food safety can result in illness, hospitalisation and in extreme cases, fatalities. Unsafe food practices can also have broader social and economic consequences.

Queensland's food industry is rapidly growing. Since June 2010, the number of licensed food businesses in Queensland has increased by 24 per cent, from 24 029 to 29 825. Growth in the industry, coupled with the introduction of online food delivery, means greater emphasis is needed on the safe preparation and service of food.

The Food Act 2006 is the primary food safety legislation that applies to all food businesses in Queensland. Responsibility for the administration and enforcement of the Food Act 2006 rests with Queensland Health and local governments (councils).

The Department of Education, Training and Employment is responsible for providing a safe working and learning environment for its staff and students in school campuses across Queensland. Well-maintained school buildings and grounds contribute to the safety of staff and students and to educational outcomes. When funding is inadequate, asset maintenance backlogs occur. As a result, school buildings and school ground facilities can deteriorate much faster than intended.

Non-state schools receive grants from the state and Australian governments – administered by the Department of Education, Training and Employment. To qualify, these schools submit to the Non-State Schools Accreditation Board (the Board), which is a statutory body that reports directly to the Minister for Education.

In 2014–15, we tabled performance audit reports Maintenance of public schools (Report 11: 2014-15) and Oversight of recurrent grants to non-state schools (Report 12: 2014-15).