An Analysis: Amended South East Queensland Koala Conservation State Planning Regulatory Provisions

Ainsley McLaren
Economics, Strategy and Research

Thinking about koala legislation consumed a lot of us for a number of months, with the release of successive versions of policies and regulatory provisions severely restricting the ability of SEQ to accommodate our projected population growth. Unrelenting lobbying by industry groups such as the UDIA and PCA and major developers, and a huge number of individual submissions from land owners and developers, have however resulted in a significant policy change.

On Saturday May 15, Minister for Climate Change and Sustainability, the Honourable Kate Jones MP, released the amended South East Queensland Koala Conservation State Planning Regulatory Provisions (SPRP) and State Planning Policy 2/10: Koala Conservation in SEQ (SPP). The adopted SPRP and SPP have been amended significantly from the intent of the previous versions, generally resulting in increased flexibility. Unfortunately this does not mean that we are all out of the woods in regards to koalas; however the current approach is potentially and comparably much more workable from a broad industry perspective and is expected to achieve greater long-term positive environmental outcomes.

Prior to these changes, the legislation was too prescriptive, imposing restrictions on a site-by-site basis, across the majority of SEQ, and not necessarily considering what was best for catchment areas as a whole. This was essentially through the use of Koala Protection Area (KPA) 1, 2 and 3 mapping and strict assessment codes that significantly affected potential yield of development sites. These KPA 1, 2 and 3 designations have been removed from the current, adopted SPRP mapping, leaving significant areas of SEQ outside of the SPRP “assessable development area”.

The new SPRP still provides however a high level of koala protection in what are considered to be core habitat areas. The new mapping and SPRP continues to prioritise the Koala Coast and Pine Rivers (former local government area), as Priority Koala Assessable Development Areas, for the development and protection of sustainable koala habitats. It also identifies additional areas, Koala Assessable Development Areas that resemble those previously identified as the Koala Sustainability, Koala Conservation and Urban Koala Areas under the Nature Conservation (Koala) Plan 2006. Unless the project is considered “committed development”, with at least a preliminary approval in place, developments in these areas will face strict koala assessment processes and some exclusions. Advice indicates at this stage that these regulatory provisions will be enforced by the relevant local government areas, rather than through a referral to DERM.

Essentially the State Planning Policy aims for local government areas to lead their own conservation strategies across the majority of SEQ, which take into account the koala habitat values mapping released as part of the SPP. The SPP provides criteria for informing the preparation of planning instruments, including planning scheme amendments and structure plans. The new SPP is anticipated to be underpinned by a soon-to-be released “guideline”; which is anticipated to provide clear advice on how local governments are to deal with the assessment of sites in relation to koala protection, while appropriate planning instruments are being prepared. All these new planning instruments will still obviously be subject to state interest checks by the Queensland Government.

On the basis that the Regulatory Provisions only now apply to a relatively small portion of SEQ, the apparent intent of the State Planning Policy is to allow for resolution of koala protection considerations at a local government level, maximising sustainability for the wider area, as opposed to necessarily an individual site. Unfortunately, this means we are without a uniform approach across South East Queensland. Only time and experience will tell.