Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

The Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities has provided the following answer to the honourable senator's question:

(1) The Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management (DERM) advised that Queensland’s Sustainable Planning Act 2009 establishes a hierarchy of State and Local planning instruments. If there is an inconsistency between a lower order and a higher order plan, the higher order plan prevails.

DERM advised the Queensland Coastal Plan incorporates a State Planning Policy which is a higher order plan than a local planning instrument.

DERM advised the Queensland Coastal Plan State Planning Policy 1.9 requires that planning instruments are to allocate land for urban development outside areas of high ecological significance, or ensure urban development avoids areas of high ecological significance within urban localities after the commencement of the State Planning Policy. Aside from policy 1.9, under the Queensland Coastal Plan policy 3.1, development is to be located outside, and not impact on, areas of high ecological significance unless the development is of a certain type as listed. For listed exceptions such as urban development within an existing urban area, development within an aquaculture or maritime development area; or development associated with a port or airport, development can have an impact on areas of high ecological significance on an ‘avoid, minimise, and offset residual impacts’ basis

(refer to policy 3.2).

(2) No.

(3) The Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management advised that new development footprints refer to new urban footprint areas that have not previously been included within an urban footprint under a Regional Plan prepared under the Sustainable Planning Act 2009, or where a Regional Plan has not yet been prepared under the Sustainable Planning Act 2009.

(4) See response to question 1 above.

The Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management advised that industrial areas, except for State Development Areas, occur within urban localities and so are captured under the definition of ‘urban development’ above. State Development Areas are established, planned and developed under separate legislation.

(5) No, refer to answer to Question 4, above.

(6) The Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management (DERM) advised that the Wetlands State Planning Policy applies to wetlands of high ecological significance in catchments of the Great Barrier Reef between the Mary and Daintree catchments, including the catchments draining into Tin Can Bay.

DERM advised the Great Barrier Reef Wetlands Protection State Planning Policy works in conjunction with other statutory planning and development regimes, in particular the Queensland Coastal Plan and the Vegetation Management Act 1999.

DERM advised that because other planning regimes address vegetation clearing and protection of threatened species habitat, the focus of the Great Barrier Reef Wetlands Protection State Planning Policy is to ensure high impact earthworks arising from either rural or urban development do not impact on the wetlands, as is outlined in the State Party Report on page 28.

(7) The Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management (DERM) advised that a list as requested is not available. There are many hundreds of thousands of wetlands in Queensland.

DERM advised their website contains a database called the ‘Map of Referrable Wetlands’ which classifies natural wetlands between wetlands of high and general ecological significance. This database supports the statutory requirement for certain types of development proposals within or within proximity of natural wetlands to be referred to DERM for assessment.

Another mapping tool accessible from DERM’s WetlandInfo webpage provides a

non-statutory interactive wetland mapping tool which identifies all wetlands in Queensland and provides information about them.

(8) The Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management advised that the Wetlands State Planning Policy has the same statutory status as the Queensland Coastal Plan State Planning Policy, as outlined in the answer to Question 1, above.

(9) No.

(10) The disclaimer is of a generic format which is used on Australian Government publications. The report includes information from a range of sources including expert peer reviewed articles, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority with regard to its management activities and Queensland Government agencies with regard to policies and programs that are within their jurisdiction.

(11) The Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities.