In brief
The Queensland State Development, Infrastructure and Industry Committee has recommended aspects of the Regional Planning Interests Bill 2013 be amended. Partner Bill McCredie and Senior Associate Michael Zissis outline the committee's key recommendations and the next steps towards the implementation of the new approvals regime for resource activities in 'areas of regional interest' in Queensland.
Background
The Regional Planning Interests Bill 2013 (the Bill) was introduced into the Queensland Parliament in November 2013.
As we previously reported, the Bill proposes a new approval process for resource activities and other 'regulated activities' located in 'areas of regional interest'.
It is proposed that such activities cannot be carried out unless the proponent holds a 'regional interests authority', obtained after an assessment of the activity's impact on the area and in addition to existing approval and assessment processes under relevant mining and environmental legislation.
The Bill was referred to the State Development, Infrastructure and Industry Committee for consideration and has been subject to a consultation process involving two submission periods and a number of public hearings.
The consultation process resulted in 99 submissions, including submissions from the mining industry, landowners, lawyers, farming and conservation groups. The majority of submissions related to:
- the lack of transitional provisions and protections for existing projects;
- the implications of the proposed approval (and potential appeal) process on industry in terms of time, cost and project bankability; and
- the Bill being 'framework legislation', which would rely on detail to be included in the regulations which have not been made publicly available to date.
The Bill has been described as a shift in policy by the State Government because the regulation of mining and resources projects has been separate to the land use planning regulatory regime in Queensland.
The committee's recommendations
In its report to the House released on Monday afternoon, the committee has recommended that the Bill be passed and made 22 recommendations. A number of those recommendations call for amendments to the Bill.
The key recommendations in relation to the resources industry are:
- for amendments to exempt current, lawfully operating activities in place before an area was declared an 'area of regional interest' from the requirement to obtain a regional interests authority under the new regime, given the drafting of the 'pre-existing resource activity' exemption initially included in the Bill is qualified and would have limited application;
- for an additional transitional provision to exempt resource activities that have reached a certain milestone in the overall approval process from the requirement to obtain a regional interests authority under the new regime;
- for the development of additional transitional provisions for the repeal of the Strategic Cropping Land Act 2011 (Qld), such as provisions relating to where applications under this Act have been made but not yet determined;
- for the State to only be bound to local governments' recommendations in relation to applications for regional interests authorities for activities in 'priority living areas', as opposed to all four types of 'areas of regional interest' (ie the State would not be bound to decide the application in accordance with the local government's advice for activities in 'priority agricultural areas', 'strategic environmental areas' or 'strategic cropping areas');
- for further consultation with peak industry bodies to develop a definition of coexistence or coexistence criteria, which will be relevant to the impact assessment of resources activities in each type of 'area of regional interest', particularly in priority agricultural areas and strategic cropping areas;
- for the power to condition a regional interests authority to be restricted to conditions that are reasonably required, relevant and not an unreasonable imposition on the project;
- for further consideration be given to whether the conditions of a regional interests authority in a strategic environmental area ought to prevail to the extent of any inconsistency with the conditions of relevant environmental authorities; and
- for assessment and decision timeframes to be included in the Bill or the regulations.
The committee also recommended that the purposes of the Bill be reviewed, the definition of 'regulated activities' be amended to include it as having a widespread and/or irreversible impact, a 'minor amendment' to an application for a regional interest authority be defined in the Bill, and pastoral leaseholders be recognised as 'owners' for the sake of notifications about applications.
In addition to its recommendations, the committee has sought 16 points of clarifications, including:
- when a regional interests authority will take effect;
- how appeal rights in the Bill are to be limited to 'genuinely affected persons';
- whether a regional interests authority is required where a resource proponent owns the land where the activity is proposed;
- whether the 'pre-existing resource activity' exemption is applicable to pipeline licence or petroleum facility licence holders; and
- how the cumulative impacts of resources activities on areas of regional interest will be addressed.
Next steps
The Queensland Government will now respond to the committee's report and recommendations.
It is also understood that the Government will table draft regulations during the second reading debate on the Bill and then provide 30 days for consultation.
It will be important for industry to monitor the release of the draft regulations given the 'framework legislation' nature of the Bill and that the regulations will include a significant amount of detail relevant to the implementation of the new regime (including the assessment criteria of the State and 'assessing agencies' in relation to applications for 'regional interests authorities' and the nature and scope of a 'regulated activity').
Notably, the committee has also foreshadowed it might inquire into the draft regulation once it has been tabled.
The Bill is expected to be debated in Parliament and passed before the end of June.