{"id":709881,"date":"2026-06-02T07:08:25","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T07:08:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/709881\/"},"modified":"2026-06-02T07:08:25","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T07:08:25","slug":"queensland-government-waters-down-under-16s-e-scooter-and-e-bike-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/709881\/","title":{"rendered":"Queensland government waters down under-16s e-scooter and e-bike ban"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Queensland government has watered down its plan to ban children under 16 from riding e-mobility devices to allow those aged between 12 and 17 to ride under parental supervision.<\/p>\n

Transport Minister Brent Mickelberg announced a series of amendments to the state government’s proposed e-mobility laws on Tuesday, which are expected to pass state parliament this week.<\/p>\n

The government proposed the laws following a parliamentary inquiry into the safety of e-mobility devices that recommended under-16s be banned from riding them.<\/p>\n

Further recommendations included requiring riders to hold at least a learner’s licence.<\/p>\n

Mr Mickelberg said on Tuesday the legislation would be tweaked to allow those aged between 12 and 17 to ride an e-mobility device under parental supervision.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Brent<\/p>\n

Brent Mickelberg announced a series of amendments to the bill on Tuesday. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

However, those aged 16 or above who hold at least a learner’s permit would be able to ride without supervision. The legislation will also allow parents to be fined if a child under 16 rides illegally.<\/p>\n

Australian Medical Association Queensland President, Erica Gannon, said walking back the ban felt like a betrayal of children’s safety.<\/p>\n

“This decision puts us right back where we started, with children being injured and killed,” she said.<\/p>\n

“A straight ban would have kept rules clear, rather than put more pressure, as well as potential punishment, on parents.”<\/p>\n

Dr Gannon said doctors were sick of seeing preventable injuries from e-mobility device accidents.<\/p>\n

“Emergency department physicians see the damage e-bikes and e-scooters cause and it’s no joke,” she said.<\/p>\n

“My colleagues and I regularly see cuts and bruises, missing teeth, head and facial injuries, and broken bones.<\/p>\n

“Tragically, some accidents are fatal, which is devastating for the families and communities of the victims, and for hospital staff involved.”<\/p>\n

“We’re struggling to see what the point of the inquiry was, if there is to be almost no change in the legislation.”<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

The legislation will allow people who are not medically fit to drive to apply for an exemption. (612 ABC: Kenji Sato)<\/p>\n

Mr Mickelberg said the finalised bill would provide an exemption for people who could not hold a license due to a medical condition or disability.<\/p>\n

He said there would also be amendments regarding the use of e-mobility devices on rail trails and on mountain bike tracks.<\/p>\n

The amendments come after a committee examining a bill made a series of recommendations challenging some of the proposed changes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Bicycle Queensland chief executive Dr Matthew Burke said the changes would make Queensland the “hardest place in the world” to ride a legal e-bike, but would not prevent the sale of illegal e-bikes.<\/p>\n

“They are not shutting down the private property use only loophole,” he said.<\/p>\n

“People are buying these and using them on our streets, our paths and in our parks. The sale of those devices has to stop.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

\u00a0Matthew Burke says the legislation will make Queensland the hardest place in the world to ride a legal e-bike. (ABC News: Luke Bowden)<\/p>\n

Speed limit changes<\/p>\n

A proposed 10 km\/h speed limit on footpaths had faced particular opposition by members of the community.<\/p>\n

Mr Mickelberg said that instead, a 12 km\/h speed limit would apply on footpaths and when passing pedestrians on shared paths. The speed limit on shared paths would otherwise be 25km\/h.<\/p>\n

“We promised to deliver nation-leading laws, and that is exactly what we will be doing this week,” he said.<\/p>\n

Dr Burke said while the increase to 25km\/h on shared path was an improvement on what was initially put forward, it still did not make sense.<\/p>\n

“It is people who don’t understand bikes again plucking something out \u2026 without really consulting anyone, without doing the work to realise how bikes work,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Some riders have protested the proposed laws.\u00a0 (ABC News: Alex Brewster)<\/p>\n

Riders will have until the end of February 2027 to ensure their device is compliant with the new standards required under the legislation.<\/p>\n

E-scooters and personal mobility devices will need to be limited to 25km\/h and e-bikes must comply with the European Standard EN15194.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mr Mickelberg said an assurance scheme would be developed to help owners ensure their e-bikes are compliant.\u00a0<\/p>\n

E-bike 10km\/h limit in Qld should be watered down<\/a><\/p>\n

A proposed 10 km\/h speed limit for e-mobility on footpaths should only apply in high pedestrian zones and not on shared paths, a Queensland parliamentary committee has recommended.<\/p>\n

He said the legislation would also be amended to ensure that past and future versions of the European Standard would meet the compliance requirements.<\/p>\n

Changes to recognise older versions of the standard were welcomed by Dr Burke, who said it would “save” safe e-bikes which would not have been allowed under the initial proposal.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mr Mickelberg said the laws were expected to come in from July 1, with the ban on under-16s riding alone and licence requirements to start from August 31.<\/p>\n

Under the legislation, the onus will be on shared e-mobility scheme providers to introduce measures, such as age verification, to ensure riders abide by the new laws.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a statement, a spokesperson for Neuron said they looked forward to working with the government and stakeholders.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0“Safety is fundamental to the success of shared e-mobility, and we support clear, consistent statewide regulations that improve outcomes for riders and the wider community \u2014 particularly measures addressing illegal and high-powered devices,” they said.<\/p>\n

Managing director of cycling safety advocate group Amy’s Foundation Katey Bates said changes were needed following the death of 12 people in Queensland in e-mobility device incidents last year.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Katey Bates says “something had to be done” to make e-mobility devices safer to ride. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

“What we are targeting through this is making sure the illegal devices are off our roads and that poor and dangerous behaviour is not tolerated,” she said.<\/p>\n

“We are not targeting the families riding their bikes to school, we encourage that and hope these measures increase safety for them.”<\/p>\n

Shadow Transport Minister Bart Mellish said it was hard to say whether Labor would support the legislation as it had not seen the amendments.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“These changes are still not in front of us in parliament so the public haven’t seen them,” he said.<\/p>\n

He said the bill failed to address the “core problem” concerning stakeholders, being the sale of illegal e-bikes that can still be used on private property.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mr Mickelberg said he would encourage the federal government to fast-track the introduction of a product standard to make the regulation and enforcement of what is considered a legal e-bike easier.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Queensland government has watered down its plan to ban children under 16 from riding e-mobility devices to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":709882,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[502,13729,329753,345137,13731,43,25213,44,94,16863,141969,48995,14498,41,39,42,40,16861],"class_list":["post-709881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-children","tag-e-bikes","tag-e-mobility","tag-e-scooter-ban","tag-e-scooters","tag-headlines","tag-legislation","tag-news","tag-qld","tag-safety","tag-speed-limit","tag-state-government","tag-teens","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-transport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=709881"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709881\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/709882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=709881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=709881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=709881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}