Housing Availability and Affordability (Planning and Other Legislation Amendment) Bill 2023

Queensland’s planning framework is one of the key tools used by state and local governments to deliver connected, liveable and sustainable communities across Queensland.

The Housing Availability and Affordability (Planning and Other Legislation Amendment) Bill 2023 amends the Planning Act 2016 to improve the planning framework’s response to housing supply challenges.

The Bill includes targeted interventions aimed at facilitating new housing delivery in growth areas including:

• the ability for the Planning Minister to acquire land and create an easement for critical infrastructure to unblock development in the right locations and at the right time, and
• a new and streamlined state led assessment process to facilitate development that is a priority of the state, for example affordable housing delivery.

The Bill also makes operational and process improvements to the planning framework to ensure that the system is as efficient as possible. These changes respond to matters that have arisen since the commencement of the Planning Act in 2017.

Some of the key operational and process changes as part of the Bill include:

• modernising the operation of Development Control Plans and ensuring approvals are valid,
• streamlining the renewal and registration processes for urban encroachment provisions,
• removing the requirement for a development approval for particular development for a temporary period of time,
• improving the functionality of applicable events and temporary use licences,
• streamlining the Planning Minister’s powers to direct an amendment to a local planning scheme, and
• reduced regulatory burdens for the State and local governments by improving processes.

Consequential changes are also proposed to the Planning Regulation 2017 (Planning Regulation), Minister’s Guidelines and Rules (MGR) and Development Assessment Rules (DA Rules) to support the Bill’s objective in ensuring that the framework is as efficient, effective and responsive as possible.

Key amendments in the Planning Regulation include:

• criteria for the new State facilitated development pathway,
• a new ability to impose a development condition for the provision of an affordable housing component,
• criteria for an affordable housing component,
• modernisation of terminology used in development control plan areas to terms used in the Planning Act,
• a new definition for ‘build-to-rent’ development,
• requirements for applications to register, renew and amend urban encroachment registrations,
• requirement for applications to extend or amend temporary use licences,
• requirements to keep particular materials available for inspection and purchase, and
• minor amendments to update referencing and numbering.

Amendments are also proposed to the Environmental Offsets Regulation 2014 for the new State facilitated development pathway.

Key amendments to the MGR and DA Rules include:

• criteria for what constitutes an administrative and minor amendment to a planning scheme,
• a new ability for the Planning Minister to impose a condition on a proposed Temporary Local Planning Instrument (TLPI),
• a process for assessing and deciding a State facilitated development application,
• modernised public notice and submission requirements, and
• general operational and editorial improvements.