Protection for ‘iconic’ places

Legislation that provides greater protection to some of Queensland’s natural and built icons has been passed by Parliament today.

Deputy Premier and Minister for Infrastructure and Planning Paul Lucas said Parliament had today passed legislation to give communities confidence that iconic areas of the state would be protected following council amalgamations.

“The Iconic Queensland Places Bill will protect some of this state’s most vital assets,” Mr Lucas said.

“It ensures protection for icons located within the new regional councils, and is designed to give the force of state law to planning schemes already in place in environmentally important places such as Noosa and Douglas Shires.”

Under the legislation, the Minister has the power to declare natural or built environmental features as being “iconic”, meaning they have qualities that contribute substantially to define Queensland’s character.

“The legislation allows the State Government in certain circumstances to declare an area as iconic,” Mr Lucas said.

“If iconic status is granted, local government councils will need to report on how amendments to existing planning schemes will affect iconic areas, and evaluate the impacts.

“In evaluating the impacts, the report will also have the benefit of potentially leading to improvements to the planning scheme.”

Mr Lucas said the new framework would also establish independent development assessment panels with the option to decide a development application for premises in an iconic location.

“Those panels, of up to five people, would include community members, members with the technical expertise to assess development applications, and at least one councillor of the relevant local government,” Mr Lucas said.

“Given panels will have important planning powers, we require a system of checks and balances to ensure their accountability and integrity.

“All members of those panels will be required to avoid potential conflicts by adhering to a code of conduct and declaring their interests on a members’ register.

“We want to ensure these panel members protecting Queensland’s icons are skilled enough to judge development applications and are beyond reproach when they do so.”

The legislation is designed to protect some of Queensland’s most significant environmental assets, and will align with planning and development rules within the Integrated Planning Act 1997.

It specifically seeks to declare the existing local government areas of Douglas and Noosa Shires as iconic.

“The legislation ensures appropriate development under the sort of local planning regimes local communities have grown to trust,” Mr Lucas said.

“And it will be using planning and development assessment by local government as the tool to drive this.”

Media contact: Robert Hoge – 0419 757 868