Planning Act 2016

The Act directly affects developers and landowners who must obtain development approvals for assessable development, comply with conditions, and pay infrastructure charges. It affects local governments as planning scheme makers, assessment managers, enforcement authorities, and infrastructure charge leviers. State government actors include the Minister (who makes State planning instruments, exercises call-in powers and direction powers), the chief executive (who appoints inspectors, decides State facilitated development, and gives directions on social impact conditions), and referral agencies (typically State departments such as the Department of Environment, Science and Innovation or Department of Transport and Main Roads).

Private certifiers may act as assessment managers for building work under section 48(3). Submitters (members of the public) have rights to make submissions on impact-assessable applications and to appeal decisions under schedule 1. Practitioners including lawyers, town planners, engineers and accountants must advise clients on compliance, applications, conditions and enforcement risks.

Applicants have the right to make development applications for assessable development (section 50) and to apply for preliminary approvals including variation requests. They must provide owner consent where required (section 51(2)), pay fees, and for development requiring social impact assessment must provide a social impact assessment report and community benefit agreement (section 51(4)). Applicants may change or withdraw applications before decision (section 52) and may seek deemed approval under section 64 if the assessment manager fails to decide a code-assessable application within time.

Assessment managers must accept properly made applications, assess them against relevant benchmarks, comply with referral agency responses (section 62), and give decision notices within prescribed periods. Section 60 distinguishes code assessment (must approve if complies with benchmarks, may approve if non-compliance can be resolved by conditions) from impact assessment (may approve, approve with conditions, or refuse). Section 62 requires strict compliance with referral agency directions.

Referral agencies must assess applications within their jurisdiction (section 55) and give responses that may direct conditions, partial approval, or refusal (section 56). If a referral agency does not respond in time, it is taken to have no requirements (section 58). The Minister may direct a referral agency to reissue a response under section 99.

Local governments have duties to review planning schemes every 10 years (section 25), include LGIPs, charge trunk infrastructure, and investigate development offences. They have powers to make TLPIs under urgent circumstances (section 23) and to impose necessary infrastructure conditions under sections 128-136.

Submitters have the right to make properly made submissions and to appeal decisions under schedule 1 where they are eligible submitters.

Chapter 5 creates development offences with maximum penalties of 4,500 penalty units (currently approximately $700,000 for an individual) for carrying out prohibited development (section 162), assessable development without a permit (section 163), contravening a development approval (section 164), and using premises unlawfully (section 165). Where assessable development occurs on a Queensland or local heritage place, the maximum penalty increases to 17,000 penalty units (section 163).

Enforcement authorities (defined in section 160A) include assessment managers, referral agencies, and persons nominated by the chief executive. They may issue show cause notices (section 167) and enforcement notices (section 168) requiring cessation of unlawful activity or remediation. Contravening an enforcement notice carries up to 4,500 penalty units.

Magistrates Court proceedings may be brought by any person for most development offences (section 174), but only enforcement authorities may prosecute contraventions of enforcement notices, false or misleading information (section 226), or offences related to building assessment provisions. The court may make enforcement orders (section 176), compensation orders (section 177), and investigation expense orders (section 178).

The Planning and Environment Court may make enforcement orders under section 180 on application by any person, including interim enforcement orders. Contravention of a P&E Court order carries up to 4,500 penalty units or two years imprisonment. The court may order security for costs and compensation.

Executive officers of corporations may be personally liable under section 227 for offences committed by the corporation if they did not take reasonable steps to prevent the conduct.

The Act operates alongside numerous other Queensland statutes. Section 225 provides that if another Act specifies different penalties, contains emergency provisions, or has different enforcement processes, the other Act prevails to the extent of inconsistency.

Key interactions include:

• Building Act 1975: regulates building work; local planning instruments must not include provisions about building work regulated under the building assessment provisions unless allowed (section 8(5)-(6)). Private certifiers may be assessment managers for building work (section 48(3)).
• Environmental Protection Act 1994: development applications may be taken as applications for environmental authorities (section 51(3)); environmental offsets are restricted by section 66(4).
• Coastal Act 1971: tidal works and designations interact with coastal management; local governments may apply planning schemes to tidal areas under section 19.
• Economic Development Act 2012: priority development areas and PDA development approvals have specific provisions throughout the Act (e.g. sections 16, 29, 30, 78, 84, 86, 119, 139).
• Heritage Act 2015: section 275ZJ requires the chief executive to refer applications involving State heritage places to the Queensland Heritage Council and consider prudent and feasible alternatives before deciding.
• Acquisition Act 1967: land may be taken for planning purposes under sections 263 and 263A; compensation under that Act applies.
• SEQ Water Act: distributor-retailer charges and water approvals interact with infrastructure provisions (sections 112, 115, 154, 307).
• Transport Infrastructure Act: State infrastructure provider conditions for transport infrastructure (section 146).

The Act also contains transitional provisions preserving the effect of documents and approvals under the repealed Sustainable Planning Act 2009 (chapter 8, part 2), and specific transitional arrangements for the Springfield Structure Plan (part 4C), vegetation management (part 4), and social impact assessment (part 11).

The Act has been amended significantly since 2017. Major amendments include:

2024 Housing Availability and Affordability (Planning and Other Legislation Amendment) Act: introduced State facilitated development provisions (part 6A) enabling the Minister to declare that certain development applications for urban priority projects are to be assessed and decided by the chief executive rather than the local government. This aims to accelerate housing supply. The amendments also strengthened the Minister's power to direct local governments to amend planning schemes for consistency with regulated requirements or State interests (section 26A).

2025 Planning (Social Impact and Community Benefit) and Other Legislation Amendment Act: inserted part 6B requiring social impact assessment and community benefit agreements for development prescribed by regulation as having potential to impact the social environment of a community. This responds to community concerns about large-scale developments and seeks to ensure developers contribute to local infrastructure and services. The amendments also introduced temporary accepted development provisions (subdivision 2 of part 1) allowing regulations to declare certain material changes of use as accepted development for a stated period, enabling rapid response to emergencies or economic needs.

2024 amendments to urban encroachment provisions (part 4 of chapter 7): expanded the registration scheme to allow owners of registered premises to apply to amend the affected area to include additional land (section 268A), and to remove land from the affected area (section 268B). New public consultation requirements were added (section 268C). These changes strengthen protections for existing industrial and infrastructure uses from encroaching residential development.

2024 amendments to development control plans: sections 359-360 validate approvals and establish that new development applications in development control plan areas (such as Springfield) must be assessed under the Act rather than under the old IDAS system.

The source text does not record specific case law. However, several provisions are likely to generate litigation:

The definition of adverse planning change under section 30 and its exclusions (particularly for risk reduction changes under section 30(4)(e) and changes about building relationships under section 30(4)(f)) are likely to be contested where landowners argue compensation is payable but local governments rely on exclusions.

The deemed approval mechanism under section 64, while intended to prevent assessment delays, may be controversial where assessment managers dispute whether applications were properly made or where referral agencies have given unfavourable responses. The standard conditions imposed by the Minister under section 64(8)(d) may also be challenged.

Ministerial call-in powers under division 3 of part 6 have significant implications for local autonomy. The Act limits call-ins to matters involving State interests (section 91), but the Minister's discretion is broad and decisions to call in applications have been politically controversial.

Social impact assessment requirements introduced in 2025 may face legal challenges regarding the scope of the regulation-making power, the content of social impact assessment reports, and the enforceability of community benefit agreements. Section 106ZI provides that the absence or inadequacy of a community benefit agreement is not a ground for refusal, which may be tested.

Emergency exemptions under section 166 are narrowly defined and may give rise to disputes about whether an emergency existed and whether the person took all reasonable steps.

Section 30(4) compensation exclusions: Many planning changes that reduce land value do not attract compensation. Changes made to reduce risk from bushfires, coastal erosion, flooding or landslides are excluded (section 30(4)(e)), as are changes about relationships between buildings and lots if yield is not substantially different (section 30(4)(f)). The yield test for residential buildings (section 30(6)) sets a 15% reduction threshold for gross floor area up to 2,000m², but for larger buildings any reduction may be 'substantially different'.

Section 43(5) limits on local categorising instruments: Local governments may only state development is prohibited if a regulation allows it. This is a critical constraint; a planning scheme that prohibits a use without regulation cover is of no effect.

Section 66 prohibited conditions: Development conditions must not require a monetary payment for infrastructure outside the statutory framework (section 66(1)(c)), must not require an access restriction strip, and must not limit the currency period for infrastructure network uses. Conditions inconsistent with earlier approvals are prohibited unless the same person imposes both and the applicant and owner agree (section 66(2)).

Section 73A private certifier limitations: A private certifier's development permit for building work does not authorise impact-assessable parts of building work unless a relevant preliminary approval is in effect. This trap catches applicants who assume a single permit suffices.

Section 85 currency periods: Default currency periods are short: 6 years for material change of use, 4 years for reconfiguring a lot, and 2 years for other development. Failing to act within these periods causes the development approval to lapse. Extension applications must be made before lapse (section 86).

Section 120 levied charges: Infrastructure charges may be levied only for extra demand generated by the approved development. However, demand from existing lawful uses or earlier approvals may be included where those uses have not been carried out or infrastructure requirements were not complied with. The recent 2025 amendment rewrote section 120 to clarify these rules, but the interaction with previous uses remains complex.

Section 166 emergency exemptions: The exemption from development offences for emergency works is conditional on strict requirements: a safety management plan for tidal works, advice from a registered professional engineer for heritage places, and prompt notification. If the person does not make a development application as soon as reasonably practicable, the exemption ceases and restoration may be required (section 166(7)).

Section 231 non-appealable decisions: Many decisions under the Act are final and conclusive and may only be challenged for jurisdictional error in the Supreme Court. This includes decisions of the Minister under part 6 (directions and call-ins) unless schedule 1 provides an appeal right.

Section 275ZI restriction on heritage impact assessment: Where the assessment manager is not the chief executive, impact assessment must not consider the effect on the cultural heritage significance of a Queensland heritage place. This prevents local governments and private certifiers from imposing heritage conditions, which are reserved to the chief executive and the Queensland Heritage Council.

For developers: Before lodging a development application, identify the correct category of development and assessment under the relevant planning scheme and regulations. Ensure owner consent is obtained (section 51(2)). For development requiring social impact assessment, prepare a report meeting the requirements of section 106W and negotiate community benefit agreements with affected local governments (section 106Z). Lodge the application with the correct assessment manager and pay required fees. During assessment, respond promptly to information requests and manage referral agency engagement. After approval, comply strictly with development conditions, pay infrastructure charges within the timeframes in section 122, and ensure development begins within the currency period under section 85.

For local governments: Ensure planning schemes comply with section 43(5) limits on categorisation and section 8(5) limits on building work provisions. Follow the prescribed processes for making or amending local planning instruments under sections 18-24. When imposing infrastructure conditions, comply with sections 128-136 and ensure offset and refund calculations are consistent with the charges resolution. When enforcing, follow the show cause process (section 167) unless urgent circumstances apply.

For referral agencies: Assess applications within jurisdiction and provide timely responses. If the Minister directs reissue of a response under section 99, comply promptly. Publish decisions on the website where required by section 56(6).

For applicants seeking to use superseded planning schemes: Make the request within one year of the planning change (section 29(3)). If the local government agrees, lodge the development application within six months (section 29(9)(a)).

For compensation claims: Act promptly: two years from the adverse planning change for public purpose changes, six months from the decision on the development application for other changes (section 31(6)). Ensure the claim is made to the correct local government and be aware that compensation is not payable for planning changes that meet the exclusions in section 30(4).

For enforcement and compliance: If issued an enforcement notice, consider appeal rights immediately. An appeal stays the notice except for dangerous works or heritage matters (section 171). If a show cause notice is received, make representations within the stated period. Do not contravene enforcement orders; penalties include imprisonment.