Regional Planning Interests Act 2014
LegislationReferenced in 11 bills
Planning and Development (Planning for Prosperity) Bill 2015
This bill was a complete rewrite of Queensland's planning laws, aimed at replacing the 700-page Sustainable Planning Act 2009 with a simpler, faster system. It simplified development categories, cut State planning instruments from four to two, increased maximum fines for illegal development to over $500,000, and gave councils new powers over party houses. The bill was introduced by the Newman LNP government shortly before the 2015 election and did not pass; Queensland's planning system was instead replaced by the Labor government's Planning Act 2016.
Planning and Development (Planning for Prosperity—Consequential Amendments) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2015
This bill changes 67 Queensland Acts so they line up with a proposed new planning system (the Planning and Development Bill 2015 and Planning and Environment Court Bill 2015) that would have replaced the Sustainable Planning Act 2009. Most changes are technical — swapping old planning terms for new ones — but the bill also streamlines environmental approvals for major coordinated projects and clarifies the Coordinator-General's power to authorise entry onto land in State Development Areas such as the Galilee Basin.
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.
State Development and Public Works Organisation (Critical Minerals) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2026
This bill overhauls the State Development and Public Works Organisation Act 1971 to help the Queensland Government fast-track major projects, especially in the critical minerals sector. It creates a new class of 'State strategic projects' that can access faster approvals, easier land access and a powerful new 'modification order' that can change how other laws apply to a project. It also modernises infrastructure planning for resource regions and updates the Coordinator-General's land, investigation and enforcement powers.
Mineral and Energy Resources and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2024
This bill overhauls Queensland's framework for managing the coexistence of resources, renewable energy and agricultural industries. It creates a new system for assessing and compensating CSG-induced subsidence damage to farmland, broadens Queensland's coexistence institutions to cover renewable energy, modernises the Financial Provisioning Scheme for mine rehabilitation, and streamlines regulatory processes across more than a dozen resources-related Acts.
Planning Bill 2015
This bill replaces Queensland's entire planning and development system with a simpler framework, repealing the Sustainable Planning Act 2009 and introducing a new Planning Act. It reduces red tape, streamlines how councils make planning schemes, clarifies the rules for approving or refusing development applications, and increases penalties for breaking planning laws.
Planning (Consequential) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2015
This bill updates 68 other Queensland laws so they work with the new Planning Act 2016 and Planning and Environment Court Act 2016, which together replace the Sustainable Planning Act 2009. It mostly changes terminology and cross-references, removes duplicated or outdated planning steps, and sets transitional rules so any application already lodged is finished under the old system.
Gasfields Commission and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2017
This bill restructures the GasFields Commission Queensland to clearly separate its strategic board from its day-to-day management, and to allow a part-time chairperson. It also makes it easier for biodiscovery businesses to on-license the use of native biological material, and fixes a technical gap in how port planning overlays apply to development.
Planning (Social Impact and Community Benefit) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2025
This bill introduces a community benefit system requiring developers of large-scale projects (primarily renewable energy) to assess social impacts and negotiate community benefit agreements with local governments before seeking planning approval. It also overhauls governance and planning approvals for Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games venues and infrastructure, and makes administrative changes to Economic Development Queensland.