Homes for Queenslanders: New legislation to build more homes, faster

• Miles Government’s Housing Availability and Affordability Bill passes through the parliament
• Establishes new State Facilitated Development team to fast-track affordable housing
• Allows Minister to condition social and affordable housing on development applications
• Bill breaks barriers, empowers Planning Minister to deliver essential infrastructure for housing
• Bill critical in supporting the government’s ambitious Homes for Queenslanders housing plan to build more homes, faster

The Miles Government will unlock more housing supply, faster, with the passing of the Housing Availability and Affordability (Planning and Other Legislation Amendment) Bill 2023 through state parliament today.

Importantly, the Bill will support more homes being built faster through a new pathway: the State Facilitated Development team who will fast track the assessment of development applications for infill housing developments that delivers diverse and affordable housing.

Industry tells government currently in Victoria, it can take anywhere up to four years to approve an affordable housing development.

Through the new team, once declared by the Minister, applications can be assessed within a minimum of 75 business days.

The new legislation also allows the Minister to condition social and affordable housing on development applications.

This Bill removes planning barriers impacting housing and land supply in locations across the state where critical housing supply is needed.

Additionally, the bill addresses critical infrastructure challenges that often stall large-scale residential projects. In situations where shared infrastructure like water, power, and roads need to pass through multiple land parcels, the bill empowers the Planning Minister to acquire land or create easements. This will unlock well-located underutilised land for housing.

The Bill builds on the existing planning framework to resolve key challenges to the delivery of housing and land supply by:

• providing the opportunity for the Planning Minister to acquire land or create easements for planning purposes, to deliver critical infrastructure to support development
• cutting planning barriers to support the delivery of diverse and affordable housing
• supporting growth by ensuring development is approved in the right areas at the right time where detailed land use and infrastructure planning has occurred

It adds to a number of other initiatives outlined in the Miles Government’s Homes for Queenslanders plan, including inclusionary planning pilots, Ground Lease trials on government land and the $350 million incentive funding for infill developments.

As a result of the Bill’s passing, a number of amendments to the Planning Regulation 2017 (Planning Regulation), Minister’s Guidelines and Rules (MGR) and Development Assessment (DA) Rules are being progressed to guide how the new powers operate.  

Public consultation on the Planning Regulation and the proposed amended instruments will be undertaken from 18 April to 20 May 2024 and people are encouraged to have their say.

Quotes attributable to Housing Minister Meaghan Scanlon:

"Our bill slashes planning barriers, speeds up infrastructure delivery, and fuels housing construction. More homes, faster - plain and simple.

“Industry tells us that other states already take too much time to approve housing developments, this Bill will allow us to approve projects much quicker.

“We’ve shown that only Labor can be trusted to work with industry to boost supply, with more homes completed, commenced and approved on average compared to the LNP.

“The LNP think our Homes for Queenslanders plan is too much – so will they cut our work with industry to have faster approvals or funding to drive infill development and well-located homes?

“We need to plan well and plan ahead by pulling new levers in the planning space and unlock supply for more homes faster. The passing of this bill allows this to occur.

Further information:

To find out more about the Housing Availability and Affordability (Planning and Other Legislation Amendment) Bill 2023 go to https://planning.statedevelopment.qld.gov.au/planning-issues-and-interests/housing-availability-and-affordability-pola-amendment-bill-2023

ENDS

Media contact: Francis Dela Cruz - 0420 592 078