On 28 November 2024, the Queensland Government passed legislation to amend the Planning Act 2016 to allow the Minister to revise or revoke a State Facilitated Development (SFD) application. This follows Sandy’s advocacy efforts since we opposed the original Bill facilitating the SFD pathway back in April. This is a welcomed component to address the inappropriate SFD process that bypasses local government planning schemes, as well Sandy’s efforts to ensure the new government work with Noosa Council and uphold their election commitments, mentioned in our October 2024 Noosa 360 update.
Whilst this was a positive outcome, the Bill that encompassed them included a wide variety of unrelated legislative amendments. For more information on these , please read Sandy’s full undelivered speech at www.sandybolton.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Brisbane-Olympic-and-Paralympic-Games-Arrangements-and-Other-Legislation-Amendment-Bill-2024%E2%80%93-Sandy-Bolton-MP-for-Noosa.pdf, with the relevant section on the SFDs below:
This Bill introduces a range of changes to legislation under the urgency provision that are unrelated, have not had any community consultation, nor the appropriate scrutiny that all legislation should pass through, which is totally inappropriate.
However, there is a component that has my support as it relates directly to Noosa, and the State Facilitated Development or SFD proposals that my community has totally objected to.
As you are aware, planning laws were amended earlier this year to introduce this new SFD pathway to approve developments bypassing local planning schemes with an approval process through state government rather than Councils, which I opposed at the time.
This bill will allow the Planning Minister to revise or revoke/refuse an application that does not adhere to a local planning scheme, which under the previous Bill was not an avenue available.
This will ensure that commitments made to my electorate during the elections can be delivered, and I thank the Premier and Minister for Planning Jarrod Bleijie for this as it is appreciated.
With Noosa Council in support of these amendments, and the planning department working with them closely on any SFD applications or future proposals, I feel confident that the concerns of our community will now be addressed, and that Noosa can rest easy tonight knowing that we have been heard, and action has resulted.
The changes relating to the SFDs will work to address the community’s concerns regarding the two proposals within the Noosa Electorate, and help ensure going forward that there is a mechanism for the Minister to refuse future applications that do not align to the Noosa Planning Scheme. Sandy will continue to monitor this with both state government and Noosa Council.
For more information on Noosa Council planning and housing strategy, visit www.noosa.qld.gov.au/planning-development/home. To contact the Noosa Councillors, please find their information at www.noosa.qld.gov.au/downloads/file/927/contact-list-councillors.
To contact the Queensland Minister for State Development Infrastructure and Planning, please email deputy.premier@qld.gov.au. Please cc’ our office in via noosa@parliament.qld.gov.au and forward any response you receive to us.
For all Sandy’s previous Noosa 360 updates on the SFDs, please visit www.sandybolton.com/?s=State+Facilitated+Development.
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