Through the Planning Group, Treasury provides leadership and a contemporary planning framework that:
- supports the rational allocation of land uses
- connects communities
- balances development with long-term environmental sustainability
- encourages active lifestyles and economic development.
Treasury’s key strategies in this service include:
- developing and administering sustainable state and regional planning policies and frameworks
- providing planning leadership advice
- integrating land use, transport and infrastructure planning
- ensuring adequate land supply.
In 2020–21, Treasury will be ready to fast-track changes to the planning framework to support economic recovery.
Objective
Enable sustainable growth that supports current and future government objectives
Responding to COVID-19
In March 2020, urgent amendments to Queensland’s planning legislation were made to:
- allow the Planning Minister to decide when an essential business or use should be able to operate
- provide for any person to seek relief from existing development application conditions
- introduce flexibility for the Minister to suspend or extend statutory timeframes.
North Queensland Regional Plan
In March 2020, the first-ever North Queensland Regional Plan came into effect.
Wide Bay Burnett Regional Plan review
In November 2019, work commenced on a new regional plan for the Wide Bay Burnett region to boost economic opportunities and create jobs.
ShapingSEQ
Work to investigate, implement and report on key principles and actions outlined in ShapingSEQ, the regional plan for South East Queensland (SEQ), continued during 2019–20.
Coordinated planning to protect communities
In 2019–20, the Planning Minister introduced two Ministers’ temporary local planning instruments (TLPIs) to provide urgent planning provisions to protect the area.
- a TLPI in the Mareeba Shire
- a TLPI in the Ipswich local government area.
Healthy and active communities
The model code for neighbourhood design was released in July 2019 to encourage healthier and more active communities.
Transparency in council spending of infrastructure charges revenue
Queenslanders were provided with more information about how their local councils collect and spend developer infrastructure charges.
Supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture
The Planning Minister released new guidance material to assist Queensland councils in supporting cultural awareness through their local planning schemes.
Ministerial Infrastructure Designations
The Planning Minister made 82 designations worth $2.1 billion in capital expenditure, including 51 schools, 16 emergency services facilities and two hospitals.
Development assessments
Through the State Assessment and Referral Agency (SARA), 2,335 decisions were issued.
A significant part of SARA’s role is pre-lodgement advice to applicants before a development application is lodged. During 2019–20, SARA issued 1,119 pre-lodgement advices.