planning and development in QLD

The Qld Government is reforming the current planning and development system in pursuit of perpetual growth. The changes mean that the chief executive administering the Sustainable Planning Act 2009 (Qld) (SPA) has now taken over the assessment manager and concurrence agency roles which were previously administered by the various state agencies.  In effect, State decision making is being centralised to the Department of State Development, Infrastructure and Planning.

This reform has been driven from consultation with disaffected local governments and property developers.

This comprehensive reform aims to:

·       streamline assessment and approval processes

·       remove red tape

·       re-empower local governments to plan for their communities.

The new planning reform agenda reinforce changes already made through the Sustainable Planning Act 2009.

Key elements of planning reform are:

·       the Sustainable Planning and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2012 (SPOLA Act) and the State Assessment and Referral Agency (SARA)

·       a single State Planning Policy

·       changes to the local infrastructure contributions framework.

SARA will revolutionise the way developers dealt with development applications referred to or assessed by the state.

The Department of State Development, Infrastructure and Planning is now the single point for state assessment or referral of these development applications.

An ePlan Portal has been introduced to assist councils and state agencies handle planning documents.  It enables local governments to lodge documents, state agencies to access those documents and provide comments, and the department to coordinate the review process for planning schemes and temporary local planning instruments. For more information on the planning reforms visit the DSDIP website.

The Qld State Government has also released a discussion paper outlining options for the reform of the funding framework for local government infrastructure. The discussion paper presents a set of reform options developed from feedback received from key local government and development industry representatives who had participated in recent workshop sessions.

The Qld State Government is attempting to identify the reforms necessary to deliver a framework to support sustainable local governments and a prosperous property development and construction industry.

The public consultation runs from early July until 9 August.

Greentape & lighthanded regulation

Greentape and “Lighthanded” regulation

The Greentape Reduction legislation introduced by the former Qld Government, prior to the last election is now coming into force on 31 March 2013.

The Qld Government is highlighting two important initiatives from this legislation:

·       the deletion of 20 environmentally relevant activity (ERA) thresholds from the Environmental Protection Regulation and

·       the implementation of a new Regulatory Strategy.

EHP's new Regulatory Strategy is a fundamental shift in the way environmental and regulatory activities will be undertaken, an increase its compliance activities and its enforcement actions will become stronger and more consistent.

One of the department’s first “light handed” actions was to relax processes to provide local governments with flexibility to manage their environmental relevant activities during natural disasters.

The release of the EHP Environment Recovery Plan sets out three key stages in the environmental recovery timeline:

·       Immediate or short term recovery—which aims to meet the immediate needs of affected communities. This includes restoring critical water supply and sewage treatment services.

·       Medium term recovery—which aims to address less urgent, high priority environmental issues and includes activities to manage waste and debris.

·       Long term recovery—which aims to restore the environment to near pre-disaster levels and includes such things as permanent repairs to water/sewerage infrastructure, and restoration of natural areas.

EHP has been working with local governments and industry as it addresses the requirements under the immediate and medium term recovery activities and has established a Local Government Recovery Coordinator to assist local councils with their immediate recovery and reconstruction work.

Gladstone Harbour

Gladstone Harbour is a test case for the Qld State Government’s approach to Environmental regulation in Qld.

Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney has expressed his desire to annex Gladstone Harbour from the Great Barrier Reef marine Park.

The Qld Government has appointed Dr Ian Poiner as the chair of the Gladstone Healthy Harbour Science Panel for the Gladstone Healthy Harbour Partnership.

Dr Ian Poiner who will be joined by a further seven scientists specialising in hydrodynamic, biogeochemistry, marine biodiversity, water quality, marine toxicology, ecosystem health and decision support and modelling.

Changes to Environmental Regulation in Qld

An Overview of Changes to Environmental Regulation in Qld

 

In the space of eight months, the Qld Government has reformed Environmental regulation and the machinery of Government.

The newly elected Qld Government adopted the former Government’s Greentape Reduction Act (2012).

As you may recall, the Environmental Protection (Greentape Reduction) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2011 was introduced into parliament in October 2011. The Bill lapsed when the Queensland state election was called.

While there is a strong case for reducing duplication and unnecessary paper work, many folks from the conservation and/or environment movement have grave concerns about the compromising on Environmental Protection and fast-tracking development.

The Newman Government's commitment includes the introduction of the Environmental Protection (Greentape Reduction) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2012 into the 54^th parliament on 29 May 2012.  The legislation was adopted by the Newman Government and is intended to streamline environmental regulation to allow development to move through bureaucratic approval processes. The bill was passed on 31 July 2012, but will not take effect until March, 2013.

Other reforms have simply removed environmental protections, clearing the way for increased development of the state.

One of Newman’s first acts as Premier was to push the Commonwealth to cede power to the states for environmental approvals and management.  On 13 April 2012, the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) released a communiqué announcing its intention to implement changes to environmental laws across Australia.

The changes are directed at both Federal and State laws with an emphasis on ‘streamlining’ environmental assessment processes. Presently, the Federal Government has to sign off on development in areas designated as having “national environmental significance”.

Supported by some within the private sector, the Qld Premier and Premiers from Western Australia, New South Wales and Victoria want the Federal Government to hand over control of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act. The Federal Government has since backed away from the changes and will retain oversight powers.

The Qld Premier has lobbied for development in the fragile Great Barrier Reef area, for which there are about 45 development proposals in the pipeline.

Dredging work in the Gladstone area, which has already led to changes in environmental standards, is supported by the Qld State Government.

“We are in the coal business,” the Premier told reporters. “If you want decent hospitals, schools, and police on the beat, we all need to understand that.”

The Qld Government is committed to the “four pillar” economy. The four pillars are tourism, agriculture, resources and construction and LNP policy specifically advocates for a removal of impediments to this economy.

Since March 2012, the Qld Government has:

- Dismantled all carbon abatement and climate change schemes;

- Removed the Waste Levy;

- Retracted State Government support from the $1.2 billion Solar Dawn solar research and power plant;

- Eliminated more than 1,400 jobs across government departments dealing with environmental concerns;

- Announced that it would roll back the Wild Rivers legislation;  

- Flagged changes to the enforcement of the Vegetation Management Act;

- Lifted the ban on shooting flying foxes,

- Proposed changes to the management of national parks;

- Announced plans to remove the SEQ urban footprint;

- Prioritised development in the Great Barrier Reef area;

The previous Government had amalgamated a number of Departments into the Department of Environment and Resource Management (DERM).  The current Government has dismantled DERM.

Now, Qld has departments of:

-     Environmental Protection and Heritage, 
-    Resource Management and Mines,

-     Energy and Water Supply,

-     Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry

-     National Parks, Recreation, Sport and Racing. and

-     State Development, Infrastructure and Planning.

-     The Office of Climate Change was disbanded in May, 2012.

In a press conference after his election, Newman said the changes would “create a department with a stronger focus on environment” and that he wanted to be able to speed up mining and development approvals.

In November 2012, National Parks, Recreation, Sport and Racing minister Steven Dickson announced legislative changes to boost tourism in national parks. The Newman’s Government wants Tourism and National parks together.

The Qld State Government has also made redundant 30 inspectors, whose role was to carry out compliance checks on resource and development projects with environmental conditions attached.

The Queensland ombudsman, Phil Clarke, released a report on 26 September 2012 that found streamlined government processes designed to ensure consistent, expert advice when making environmental assessments were no longer working properly.

In August 2012, the temporary state planning policy ‘Planning for Prosperity’ was released. The Qld coastal-protection plan which regulated development was suspended in October 2012 because it “is not sufficiently supportive of the Government’s commitment to grow the four pillars of Qld’s economy”, according to the draft plan that replaces it.