The state framework is the Public Health (Infection Control for Personal Appearance Services) Act 2003 (opens in a new tab), and our Brisbane hair salon page walks through it. In short, beauty therapy such as waxing is non-higher risk and needs no licence, though the infection control guidelines still apply; skin penetration where bleeding is expected is higher risk and is licensed by the council the business sits in. For a beauty owner the useful part is where Brisbane City Council (opens in a new tab) draws that line. Its licence covers tattooing, explicitly including cosmetic tattooing and semi-permanent make-up, and implanting substances, which it says includes anti-wrinkle injections, fillers, facial threads and certain skin needling, plus tattoo removal that penetrates the skin. Waxing, nail enhancements, electrolysis and applying cosmetics stay outside it.
Brisbane's licence process shapes when a new clinic's website can go live. Council asks for planning approval for the shop before you apply, statements of attainment showing each employee doing higher-risk work holds the infection control unit HLTINF005, premises that meet Mandatory Part 5.2 of the Queensland Development Code, and scaled floor plans, elevations and a site plan. It says it responds within 40 working days, renews licences every 12 months, and will carry out an inspection on request, for instance before you buy an existing salon. That gives you time: we can build the full draft while the application is with council, and keep any brow tattooing or injectables page off the live site until the licence arrives.
Greater Brisbane is several councils, and the menu has to suit the one you're in. A clinic in Springwood or Beenleigh deals with Logan City Council (opens in a new tab), which lists microblading, microneedling with pigmented serum, botulinum toxin, dermal fillers, fat-dissolving injections and collagen induction therapy among licensable services. Logan also says a mobile operator licensed for its storage address can work across Queensland if it notifies a council at least seven days before working in its area. North of the river, Moreton Bay (opens in a new tab), which takes in North Lakes, Redcliffe and Caboolture, licenses cosmetic tattooing and tattoo removal with micro needles, and both councils point laser tattoo removal to Queensland Health instead. A salon in Paddington, Chermside or Sunnybank answers to Brisbane City Council; one in Capalaba answers to Redland.
Lasers are licensed by the state, not the council. Queensland's light-based cosmetic services guidance (opens in a new tab) says only people using Class 4 laser devices must train and hold a licence, that licensees appear on a public register, and that training, qualifications and licences should be displayed in plain view. Its tattoo removal page (opens in a new tab) adds that Class 3 lasers are unlicensed, and that holding the minimum licences doesn't mean a good outcome will follow. That matches how we'd write the page: licence details where clients can see them, a consultation and patch test as the first step, and no promised result. NSW and Victoria don't license cosmetic lasers, as our Sydney and Melbourne pages explain, so a template from an interstate clinic won't carry the Queensland detail.
Medicines draw a firm line too. The state's beauty therapy services page (opens in a new tab) cites the Medicines and Poisons (Medicines) Regulation 2021 in saying only endorsed health practitioners, such as doctors and nurses, can use prescription cosmetic injectables. National advertising limits are on our main beauty salon page and in our Ahpra advertising guide. We arrange the words you give us; the practitioner, the clinic and its insurer decide what is compliant. We're an Adelaide team and work with Brisbane businesses by phone and email, with no studio visit to fit between clients.
