Transport Infrastructure Act 1994

The Minister (the Minister responsible for transport), the chief executive of the transport department, port authorities and port lessors, busway managers and authorised busway users, light rail authorities and franchisees, railway managers and operators, rail government entities including those under the Queensland Rail Transit Authority Act 2013, GOC port authorities, local governments, owners of public utility plant, holders of road approvals, holders of road franchise agreements, holders of authorisations and approvals, accredited busway managers, public utility providers, persons in or on rail corridor land, persons in port areas, owners and occupiers of land affected by State-controlled roads, light rail land, busway land, or rail corridor land, and persons consigning, transporting, or involved in the rail transport of dangerous goods.

The Act binds all persons in respect of Chapter 14 (dangerous goods by rail): section 441 expressly provides that Chapter 14 binds all persons.

Annual program development (sections 11, 14, 17). The chief executive must develop programs each year, must consult local governments (and railway managers and operators for rail), and must make the programs publicly available in the way decided by the Minister. Each annual report of the department must include a report on the operation of those programs (sections 13, 16, 19).

Approvals before works on protected land. Section 33 prohibits road works or interference with State-controlled roads without lawful excuse or the chief executive's written approval. Section 50 prohibits unauthorised ancillary works and encroachments. Section 311 prohibits interference with busway transport infrastructure. Section 362 prohibits interference with light rail transport infrastructure. Section 168 prohibits works near a railway that threaten or are likely to threaten the railway. Section 255 prohibits interference with a railway under the control of a railway manager.

Road access decisions (sections 62 to 70). A landowner who needs access between a property and a State-controlled road must obtain a section 62(1) decision. Section 64 lets the chief executive impose construction or financial obligations. Sections 67 to 67A deal with notice and copies. Section 68 lets a binding decision be extended by notice to other persons. Section 69 lets the chief executive direct an owner or occupier to apply for a permitted road access location. Section 70 sets the offences attaching to the regime.

Public utility plant (sections 77 to 83 for roads; 316 to 328 for busways; 364 to 376 for light rail). The chief executive may set requirements about the location and condition of public utility plant on State-controlled roads, busway land, or light rail land, and the owner or provider must give information and bear liability for damage caused by failures to comply with information requirements.

Dangerous goods (Chapter 14). Section 451 imposes duties on persons involved in transporting dangerous goods by rail. Section 452 lets exclusion orders prohibit involvement, with severe penalties. Section 458B prohibits consigning goods too dangerous to be transported.

Port notices and inspections. Section 282J makes contravention of a port notice an offence with substantial penalties (up to 200 penalty units, depending on the relevant port notice). Sections 283A to 283F impose document inspection compliance, conveyance inspection compliance, and offences for obstruction, false statements, false documents, and impersonation, generally at 50 penalty units.

Declaration powers. The chief executive may declare State-controlled roads (section 24), motorways (section 27), limited access roads (section 54), State toll road corridor land (section 84A), and may issue gazette notices to vary or substitute these declarations. The Treasurer may declare Brisbane core port land or balance port land (section 283J). A regulation may declare a GOC entity to be a port authority (section 274A).

Approval and franchise powers. The chief executive may grant approvals for works, ancillary works and encroachments, road access, and may enter into road franchise agreements (section 85). Section 85B applies the Queensland Heritage Act 1992 to development for a franchised road.

Direction and entry powers. The chief executive (and authorised officers under Chapters 8 and 15) may give directions, require name and address, inspect documents and conveyances, enter places (with consent or warrant for marine facilities under sections 475J to 475N), seize property, and remove watercraft (sections 475P to 475U). The chief executive may take steps to prevent or deal with contravention of road access decisions (section 71).

Civil penalty regime for train paths (sections 266B to 266G). A railway manager that breaches a train path obligation may be subject to a civil penalty notice (sections 266B to 266E), which is appellable (section 266F) and may be enforced by court proceeding (section 266G). Section 266H attributes conduct of directors, servants and agents of the railway manager.

Accreditation and authorisation discretions (Chapter 9 for busways). The chief executive grants accreditation for busway managers (sections 335AC to 335AE), with conditions (section 335AG), amendment with or without application (sections 335AJ, 335AK), suspension or cancellation (sections 335AL, 335AM, 335AN), surrender (section 335AO), and accreditation for proposed busways (section 335AP). The same kind of regime applies to authorised busway users (sections 337 to 346).

The Act layers offences across every operational chapter, scaled by gravity:

• 200 penalty units. Most road offences in Chapter 6: section 33 (road works on State-controlled roads), section 38 (fencing), section 46 (restricted road use notice), section 47 (damaging or removing road materials), section 50 (unauthorised ancillary works), section 52 (compliance with directions), section 69(4) (failure to comply with direction to apply for permitted road access), section 70 (road access offences), section 104 (information misuse), and section 292 (intentional or reckless damage to port works or charge evasion).
• 160 penalty units. Driving on a busway without authority (section 336), unauthorised driving on a busway transport infrastructure works site, light rail interference base offence (section 362).
• 100 penalty units. Interfering with a railway and related rail offences (sections 168, 255), and certain dangerous goods offences (section 443).
• 80 penalty units. Pretending to be an investigator (section 116).
• 60 penalty units. Compliance notice contraventions (section 335AH).
• 50 penalty units. Port authorised officer offence suite (sections 283A to 283G), consenting to false documents (section 283E).
• 40 penalty units. Rail corridor interference compliance (section 255), busway and light rail compliance (sections 311, 339, 340, 362, 363), public utility provider notice compliance (sections 81, 105S, 323, 371, 475X), watercraft handling compliance.
• 25 penalty units. Interference with port notices (section 283H).
• 20 penalty units. Marine facility authorised person offence suite (sections 475O, 475Y, 475Z, 475ZA, 475ZB, 475ZC).
• 15 penalty units. Information notice non-compliance for registered operators and information holders under road access enforcement (sections 99, 100, 101, 105ZH, 105ZJ, 105ZK).
• 10 penalty units. Identification and entry-related offences (sections 114, 115, 282 area authorised officer identification offences).
• 500 penalty units or 2 years imprisonment. Contravention of an exclusion order under section 452 of Chapter 14 (dangerous goods by rail).

Authorised officers and authorised persons may issue directions, require information and identification, inspect documents and conveyances, take steps to prevent contravention, recover costs of damage (section 48), recover costs of remedying unauthorised works (section 34), and remove watercraft (sections 475Q, 475R). Forfeiture is available under section 453 (dangerous goods convictions) and sections 475V to 475W (marine sample or thing forfeiture).

Annual cycle. Implementation programs must be developed each year (sections 11, 14, 17). Annual departmental reports must report on operation (sections 13, 16, 19, 87, 377E).

Tabling deadlines. Ministerial directions creating inconsistency with transport infrastructure strategies must be tabled within 5 sitting days (sections 12(2), 15(2), 18(2)). Road and light rail franchise agreements must be tabled in the Legislative Assembly (sections 86, 377D).

Notice and remediation. Notice to apply for a permitted road access location under section 69(2) must specify the response time. Section 47(1) and (2) and section 48 set the framework for cost recovery for unauthorised works.

Civil penalty process (sections 266B to 266G). Notice proposing imposition is given under section 266C. The railway manager has a window to make a submission under section 266D. Penalty notice issues under section 266E. Appeal lies under section 266F. Enforcement proceeds under section 266G.

Brisbane port LUP cycle. The first plan is notified under section 283Q. The status of the first plan is fixed by section 283R. Reviews are required under section 283U with action obligations in section 283V and reports for "no action" decisions under section 283W. Statements of proposal go through draft preparation, consultation, consideration, directions for amendment, and approval (sections 283Y to 283ZE), with publication under section 283ZF.

Busway and light rail accreditation lifecycle. Application under section 335AC, additional information under section 335AD, granting under section 335AE, conditions and compliance notices under sections 335AG and 335AH, fixed period under section 335AI, amendment, suspension, cancellation, and surrender across sections 335AJ to 335AO.

The Act interacts heavily with the Government Owned Corporations Act 1993 (section 20 corporate planning, sections 274A and 438 for QR National), the Queensland Rail Transit Authority Act 2013 (section 20), the Planning Act (sections 49A, 75, 247, 283M, 283N), the Queensland Heritage Act 1992 (section 85B for franchised road development), the Land Act 1994 (section 262), the Marine Safety Act (section 277), the Government Owned Corporations Act 1993 (Chapter 13 broader regime), and the Queensland Competition Authority Act 1997 (referenced in the case law as a parallel access regime).

Section 269 declares port authorities to be excluded matters for the Corporations Act 2001 purposes. Sections 282K to 283H interact with general criminal procedure in Queensland for the authorised officer regime. Chapter 17 preserves Part 5 Division 2 of the Port of Brisbane Authority Act 1976 (section 492).

Native title interactions are significant: rail corridor land and commercial corridor land declarations have downstream effects on dealings under the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth), which is why the Act features prominently in Federal Court consent determinations.

• The Act starts at Chapter 4. Earlier chapter numbers were either repealed or reserved. The first substantive section is section 11, not section 1.
• Sections renumbered over time. Several leading cases (for example, references to former section 215 of the Act) cite section numbers that no longer exist in the current compilation. Always check the version-specific section number when applying older case law.
• Rail government entities and GOC port authorities are bound through section 20. The strategies are not advisory: corporate plans must take them into account, and the Act envisages ongoing alignment.
• Section 38(3) of the Legislation Act 2003 has no equivalent here. State-controlled road declarations and the like remain in force under their own gazette procedure, with limited automatic-repeal triggers.
• Brisbane core port land is outside local government planning. Section 283N expressly provides that Brisbane core port land is not subject to local planning instruments. Balance port land is expressly excluded from being strategic port land (section 283O).
• Section 441 of Chapter 14 binds all persons, including the Crown for dangerous goods purposes. This is unusual and significantly elevates the regulatory reach of the dangerous goods offences.
• Civil penalties for breach of train path obligations under sections 266B to 266G run on a fast clock. A penalty notice can issue without a full court process, with appeal lying separately under section 266F.
• Multiple compensation regimes coexist. Sections 73, 74 (road access), 84D (toll road corridor land), 118 (rail feasibility), 166 (rail entry), 240AAA (rail registered interests not continued), 300, 303AAA, 303AC (busway), 332, 333, 334 (busway compensation), 351, 355B, 380, 381, 382 (light rail), 432 (miscellaneous transport infrastructure). Each regime defines what is and is not compensable.
• Public utility plant liability is asymmetric. Owners or providers bear damage liability if they fail to give location information accurately (sections 82, 324, 325, 326, 327, 372 to 375). Conversely, section 327 makes the public utility provider liable to pay additional expenses incurred by the chief executive when the provider has failed to comply with a request.
• Authorised officer powers are entry-on-direction in port areas. Sections 282Q to 283F operate via directions and on-site requirements without warrants for many powers. This is narrower for marine facility authorised persons under sections 475I to 475N, where warrants are required for non-consensual entry.

Example 1: building near a State-controlled road. A developer proposes works that affect a State-controlled road. Without the chief executive's written approval, doing road works on the road or interfering with road infrastructure is an offence under section 33, with a maximum penalty of 200 penalty units. Even where the work is permitted by a development approval, the impact assessment under section 49A and the conditions in section 75 may apply.

Example 2: a port authority changing rules at the wharf. A port authority can use a port notice under section 282 to regulate movement of ships, mooring, vehicle parking, and persons in the port area. The notice must indicate the area and, if contravention is an offence, must state that fact and the maximum penalty (sections 282I, 282J).

Example 3: a rail manager missing a passenger train path. Under sections 266B to 266G, the chief executive may give a notice proposing a civil penalty for breach of a train path obligation. The railway manager may submit on the proposal under section 266D before a penalty notice issues under section 266E, then appeal under section 266F, with enforcement under section 266G.

Example 4: declaring a State toll road corridor. Under sections 84A to 84D, the chief executive may declare State toll road corridor land. The declaration may affect existing leases (section 84CA), may convert a State-controlled road declaration (section 84CB), and triggers the compensation regime in section 84D.

Example 5: removing an illegally anchored watercraft. Under sections 475P to 475U, the authorised person must give notice of intention to remove (section 475P), may remove the watercraft (section 475Q), gives notice of removal (section 475S), deals with the removed watercraft (section 475T), and accounts for proceeds of any sale (section 475U). For hazardous watercraft, removal under section 475R may be without prior notice.

Example 6: dangerous goods exclusion. Under section 452, a court convicting a person of a serious dangerous-goods-by-rail offence may make an exclusion order prohibiting involvement in the transport of dangerous goods by rail. Contravening that order is an offence punishable by up to 500 penalty units or 2 years imprisonment.