Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation
OrganisationReferenced in 5 bills
Greenhouse Gas Storage Amendment Bill 2025
This bill allows greenhouse gas exploration wells in the Great Artesian Basin to be converted into water supply bores for local landholders, rather than being plugged and abandoned. It was introduced after the 2024 ban on greenhouse gas storage in the Great Artesian Basin ended the only exploration permit (EPQ10), held by CTSCo, leaving several wells that need to be decommissioned.
Major Sports Facilities and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2025
This bill updates Queensland's laws for major sports facilities and events. It allows Gold Coast stadiums to host concerts until 10:30pm by removing restrictive liquor licensing noise conditions, increases penalties for ticket scalping, and modernises the governance of the Stadiums Queensland board.
Regional Planning Interests (Condamine Alluvium) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2026
This bill strengthens protections for the Condamine Alluvium, a major underground water aquifer in southern Queensland that farmers rely on, from the impacts of new coal seam gas (CSG) drilling. It bans new CSG wells from contaminating the aquifer's water quality, expands landholders' rights to compensation when CSG drilling causes the ground to sink, and requires gas companies to get a landholder's agreement before drilling directional wells beneath their land. It also removes a duplicate approval step by moving CSG assessment into the existing environmental authority process.
Environmental Protection (Efficiency and Streamlining) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2025
This bill rewrites parts of Queensland's environmental laws with the stated aim of cutting red tape and modernising how activities affecting the environment are regulated. Its centrepiece is a new 'code' system that lets lower-risk activities operate by following standard rules instead of holding an individual licence, alongside changes to mine rehabilitation, prosecution powers, groundwater rules and tourism permits. It amends more than a dozen Acts, so it bundles several distinct reforms together.
Environmental Protection (Efficiency and Streamlining) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2025
This bill changes how Queensland regulates 'environmentally relevant activities', allowing some to operate under a standard code instead of an individual environmental authority, and removes the requirement for small-scale miners to pay a financial surety. It also makes related changes across 13 other Acts, covering groundwater make-good arrangements for bore owners, a single tourism permit for parks and forests, conservation officer powers, and longer prosecution timeframes.