Queensland's adjudication deadline is not 10 business days

If you have read that a Queensland claimant has 10 business days to apply for adjudication after receiving an unsatisfactory payment schedule, you have read something that does not match the Act.

Section 79(2)(b) of the Building Industry Fairness (Security of Payment) Act 2017 sets three different periods, and none of them is 10 business days.

What section 79 actually says

An adjudication application must be made within:

The third row is the one most commonly misstated. A claimant who receives a payment schedule for less than claimed has 30 business days, not 10.

Because this article corrects a figure that others have published, here is the provision itself:

(2) An adjudication application— (a) must be in the approved form; and (b) must be made within—

(i) for an application relating to a failure to give a payment schedule and pay the full amount stated in the payment claim—30 business days after the later of the following days— (A) the day of the due date for the progress payment to which the claim relates; (B) the last day the respondent could have given the payment schedule under section 76; or

(ii) for an application relating to a failure to pay the full amount stated in the payment schedule—20 business days after the due date for the progress payment to which the claim relates; or

(iii) for an application relating to the amount stated in the payment schedule being less than the amount stated in the payment claim—30 business days after the claimant receives the payment schedule

Section 79 was last amended in 2024. The wording above is the version currently in force.

Why the error matters in one direction more than the other

Believing you have less time than you do is the dangerous mistake.

A claimant told the window is 10 business days, who misses it, may reasonably conclude the claim is dead — and abandon a claim that remains live for another four weeks.

The reverse error is less harmful. A claimant who applies early is simply early.

Which is why this correction is worth making loudly: the widely repeated figure understates the time available, and understating a limitation period causes people to give up rights they still have.

The rest of the Queensland timetable

Getting section 79 right is only useful alongside the rest.

Payment schedule — section 76(1). A respondent must give a payment schedule within whichever period ends first: the period required by the contract, or 15 business days after the payment claim is given.

No schedule — section 77. The respondent becomes liable to pay the claimed amount on the due date for the progress payment.

Failure to pay — section 78. The claimant may either recover the unpaid amount as a debt in a court, or apply for adjudication. Not both.

Payment claims — section 75(2). For a claim other than a final payment, the claim must be given before the end of whichever is longest: the period under the contract, or 6 months after the construction work was last carried out.

Final payment claims — section 75(3). Before the end of whichever is longest: the contract period; 28 days after the end of the last defects liability period; 6 months after completion of all construction work; or 6 months after complete supply of related goods and services.

Frequency — section 75(4). No more than one payment claim per reference date.

After lodging — section 79(4). The claimant must give the respondent a copy of the adjudication application within 4 business days. The registrar must refer the application to an adjudicator within 4 business days of receipt, and the adjudicator must accept or reject within 4 business days of referral.

What Queensland does not require

A Queensland payment claim does not have to state that it is made under the Act. New South Wales requires this at section 13(2)(c), and Western Australia at section 24(1)(d). The BIF Act does not.

Contractors working across borders should not carry a single template between jurisdictions.

Queensland also has no notice of intention requirement. In New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania and the ACT, a claimant who received no payment schedule must serve a notice and give the respondent a further opportunity before applying. Queensland has no equivalent step — the claimant goes straight to adjudication within the applicable window.

The wider point

Australian security of payment law is jurisdiction-specific to a degree that defeats general summaries. Payment schedules are due in 10 business days in New South Wales, Victoria and the ACT, and 15 in Queensland and Western Australia.

Claim windows differ in what they are measured from, not just how long they run. New South Wales, Tasmania and the ACT allow 12 months from the day the work was last carried out. Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia allow 6 months from the same event. Victoria also says 6 months, but measures it from practical completion of all the work under the contract — a different starting gun, and one that can fall much later than the day a particular subcontractor finished.

Any single figure quoted as "the" Australian deadline is wrong somewhere. Check the Act for the jurisdiction where the work was performed — not where your office is.

Published 1 September 2026 · Updated 7 September 2026