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Queensland is a step closer to making coercive control a crime after domestic violence laws were passed by state parliament.

Broadening the definition of domestic violence to include patterns of behaviour, not just individual incidents, is a key part of the new reforms passed on Wednesday.

Welcoming the new legislation, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said coercive control was at the core of domestic and family violence.

"It is a pattern of deliberate behaviours perpetrated against a person to create a climate of fear, isolation, intimidation and humiliation," she said in a statement, thanking victim survivors and advocacy organisations for their work helping make Queensland women safer.

Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman said the legislation laid the foundation for a new stand-alone criminal offence of coercive control to be introduced later this year.

"We know how dangerous these behaviours can be. As we pass the terrible anniversary of the murder of Hannah Clarke and her three children, I want her family and friends to know that this will be their legacy."

"This is about identifying and responding to the red flags of coercive control earlier before blue police tape surrounds another family home," Ms Fentiman said.

Sue and Lloyd Clarke, whose daughter Hannah and her three children were murdered by her estranged husband in Brisbane in 2020, welcomed the new laws.

"We've fought for this because we know it will make a difference and it will prevent other families from having to go through an experience like ours," they said in a statement.

"We know from experience that the behaviour of perpetrators escalates over time. The Small Steps 4 Hannah Foundation strongly urges people to recognise the red flags in their family members, their friends and even themselves and to seek help."

Under the reforms, outdated unlawful stalking laws will be updated to reflect tactics used by perpetrators, including the digital monitoring and surveillance on mobile phones and tracking devices on cars.

Consistency of domestic and family violence training be stepped up, particularly for police and other first responders, as part of the changes.

"It will seek to ensure workers have a comprehensive understanding of domestic and family violence and coercive control so they can recognise and respond to people affected," the government's response to a committee report on the laws said.

The legislation is the first resulting from recommendations in the Women's Safety and Justice task force report Hear Her Voice.

Other provisions include strengthening consideration given by courts on domestic violence history, and the use of cross-applications for protection orders.

Outdated terms such as carnal knowledge and maintaining a sexual relationship with a child will also be updated.

"Victim survivors such as Grace Tame have argued that the current use of outdated terms diminish the gravity and severity of the unlawful criminal offending involved in the offence," Ms Fentiman told parliament on Tuesday.

The words carnal knowledge will be changed to penile intercourse, while maintaining a sexual relationship with a child will become repeated sexual conduct with a child.

© AAP 2023

A treaty between First Nations peoples and Queensland is closer to reality as proposed laws are introduced to the state's parliament.

A five-member Truth and Healing Inquiry and a First Nations Treaty Institute are the centrepieces of the legislation tabled by Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk on Wednesday.

"One of the first orders of business for this parliament 163 years ago was the Occupation of Crown Lands Bill, to address what one member described as the 'serious collision' between squatters and Aboriginals," Ms Palaszczuk told parliament.

"That was putting it mildly.

"What we do here today is what our forebears should have done back then."

The Queensland Greens said they're fully supportive of a push for treaties with First Nations people, but more funding was needed for a meaningful process.

Greens MP Amy MacMahon said the government could better support communities by abandoning it's hardline youth justice approach that "will ruin the lives of young First Nations people".

A Katter Australia Party spokeswoman said it has been sceptical of the Path to Treaty process, but it will give it "the time and consideration it deserves" with tangible legislation in the house.

The Liberal National opposition hasn't indicated its position yet.

Terms of reference for the planned Truth and Healing Inquiry are not yet set, but it will be designed to be "non-adversarial" and people generally won't be compelled to give evidence.

However, it will have powers to require government entities to provide information and their CEOs may be issued notices to attend hearings.

Entities will have grounds to refuse to provide documents if they reveal personal or prejudicial information, are subject to privilege or contain commercial in confidence details.

It will be an offence to knowingly give false or misleading information to the inquiry.

Ms Palaszczuk said the inquiry would "travel the state" to document the stories of families and communities "handed down over the past 200 years" and examine the historical and ongoing impacts of colonisation.

"This is not about guilt. This is about revealing the truth of our state, denied and buried for too long," she said.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people will make up the majority of the inquiry's members.

The new First Nations Treaty Institute will be a statutory body and play a key role in developing the process for how treaty negotiations are conducted.

It will not be a party to treaty negotiations or represent the state and is designed to prepare Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups for participation in the process.

"Our treaty will not be handed down from government," Ms Palaszczuk said.

"It will be developed from community to community because each has its own story to tell."

The new laws also remove outdated provisions and language in existing laws that are at odds with "the commitment to a reframed relationship and compatibility with human rights".

Examples include removing a provision providing for the management of the property of an Indigenous person.

The premier urged Queenslanders to find the courage, compassion and commitment to "finish this unfinished business" and make the most of the opportunity.

The state previously established a $300 million Path to Treaty fund, guaranteeing $10 million a year to the proposed treaty institute.

© AAP 2023

Workers experienced more modest wage growth than expected but the softer result could take some pressure off the Reserve Bank's aggressive interest rate hikes.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics' wage price index lifted 3.3 per cent annually in the December quarter and 0.8 per cent on a quarterly basis.

ABS head of prices statistics Michelle Marquardt said the increase in hourly wage rates for the December 2022 quarter was lower than the 1.1 per cent increase for the September quarter.

"It was, however, higher than any December quarter increase across the last decade," she said.

Analysts were broadly anticipating one per cent quarterly growth and 3.5 per cent over the year in the final quarter of 2022.

Private sector wages grew 0.8 per cent over the quarter and 3.6 per cent annually, outpacing the 0.7 per cent quarterly improvement and the 2.5 per cent annual lift in public sector wages.

Despite the improvement in wages, elevated inflation continues to erode gains in worker pay.

In the December quarter, inflation grew 7.8 per cent over the 12 months, taking the gap between inflation and wage growth to a record 4.5 per cent.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Employment Minister Tony Burke welcomed the wage growth but said there was no evidence of a "wage-price spiral" as feared by the Reserve Bank.

"We don't have an inflation challenge in our economy because wages are too high, but because of a war in Ukraine, pressure on global supply chains and other challenges in our own economy ignored for too long," they said.

AMP Australia senior economist Diana Mousina said the Reserve Bank's newly adopted hawkish stance would be challenged by the wage data and could lead to a pause in the tightening cycle earlier than markets are predicting.

The firm's economists predict one more rate rise, taking the cash rate to 3.6 per cent, although some economists expect to see two or more further increases.

She said the tight jobs market and high inflation were driving wage growth but there were signs the labour market had reached its turning point following negative jobs growth in December and January.

"It will be difficult for wages growth to accelerate in an environment of a slowing labour force," she said.

BIS Oxford Economic head of macroeconomic forecasting Sean Langcake said the RBA would be heartened by the wage data but would likely seek further evidence the still-tight labour market wasn't fuelling strong wage growth.

"The wage price index is a narrow measure of wage growth and these data will not completely allay the RBA's concerns over a wage-price spiral," he said.

Australian Council of Trade Unions secretary Sally McManus said the rising cost of living was outstripping wage growth and more needed to be done to get worker pay moving.

"Wage growth is clearly not contributing to inflation," she said.

"Supermarkets and big business are putting prices up more than they need to and workers are feeling the pain."

Business Council chief executive Jennifer Westacott said the wage data proved businesses were lifting pay rates before Labor's new workplace relations changes had taken effect.

"Australians can't afford a system that slows down this strong private sector wages growth and forces them to wait while unions, lawyers and businesses squabble over who can be at the negotiating table before they even get to discussing conditions and wages," she said.

© AAP 2023