State Government to tackle infrastructure charge challenge

Queensland’s economic development and funding for local government are set to be boosted with new legislation introduced to State Parliament this week to resolve the complex issue of infrastructure charges.

Deputy Premier and Minister for State Development, Infrastructure and Planning Jeff Seeney said the Sustainable Planning (Infrastructure Charges) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2014 was drafted after months of engagement with local government and industry.

“Labor’s long-standing failure to address this issue hampered economic development across Queensland’s local council areas,” Mr Seeney said.

“In contrast, we have found a way forward that will encourage development and provide new funding avenues for local government.

“Our government promised to provide better infrastructure and planning and these reforms will deliver on that commitment.”

Mr Seeney said the Bill proposes to introduce a ‘fair value schedule of infrastructure charges’ that reflected the cost of infrastructure required to allow new residential, commercial and industrial developments to take place.

“Councils who choose to observe the fair schedule can make application to have key works identified as Priority Development Infrastructure that could potentially attract co-funding by the State,” he said.

“This will help to relieve cost pressures on councils, developers and service providers when it comes to sharing the burden of paying for infrastructure such as roads and water and sewerage treatment plants.”

Mr Seeney said the Bill does not propose to adjust the regulated infrastructure caps that local governments can charge, however councils who choose not to adopt the fair value schedule of charges would not be considered for co-funding.

“We have created funding incentives for councils that use this new fair value schedule by having the State co-invest in Priority Development Infrastructure in the council’s area,” he said.

“Based on this research, the schedule is generally 10 per cent lower for residential development and 15 per cent less for retail, commercial and industrial development than the regulated infrastructure charging framework.”

The Sustainable Planning (Infrastructure Charges) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2014 proposes to:

• simplify, streamline and clarify the operations of the long-term infrastructure framework
• provide certainty and consistency across a whole range of elements such as conditioning, offsets, refunds and the determination of necessary infrastructure
• specify credits for existing use rights
• improve the dispute resolution and infrastructure agreement processes
• align the water distributor-retailer infrastructure charging and planning arrangements with the local government framework
• simplify infrastructure conditioning arrangements for state agencies.

The Bill has been referred to the State Development, Infrastructure and Industry Committee for consideration.

The Department of State Development, Infrastructure and Planning will work with key stakeholders through the committee process to progress any required amendments and manage the practical implementation of the planned reforms.

[ENDS] 9 May 2014

Media Contact: Jane Paterson 0417 281 754 or Elizabeth Spry 0418 928 744