Consultation

Strategic cropping land (SCL) is an important, finite resource that is subject to competing land uses from the agriculture, mining and urban development sectors. The SCL legislation is designed to strike a balance between these sectors.

In order to achieve this balance, extensive consultation was undertaken with key stakeholders during development and implementation of the policy, and all public feedback was considered.

Policy and planning framework discussion paper

In early 2010, a discussion paper was released in relation to protecting the most valuable cropping resources for the future. A total of 389 submissions were received in response to the discussion paper. A consultation report was produced analysing the results of the public submissions received.

Stakeholder Advisory Committee

A Stakeholder Advisory Committee was also established in early 2010 to help further develop the policy. The committee includes representatives from the agricultural, resource and urban development sectors, as well as representatives from local government and natural resource management groups.

August 2010 framework

On 23 August 2010, a policy framework (August 2010 framework) was released, outlining the approach to protecting the state's best cropping land resources.

Public comment and feedback was invited on the August 2010 framework. Submissions closed on 30 September 2010. The feedback received was extremely valuable. All issues and recommendations were considered and, to the extent possible, were addressed during implementation of the policy.

Note: This document is large and may take a while to download. If you are unable to download the document, please email sclenquiries@dnrm.qld.gov.au or call 13 QGOV (13 74 68) to request a hard copy.

Regulatory Assessment Statement

A Regulatory Assessment Statement (RAS) was released for public comment on 31 May 2011. Submissions closed on 1 August 2011.

To ensure best practice regulatory principles are adopted and that regulation is developed in a rigorous and transparent manner, a RAS is required to be prepared for all regulatory proposals put forward by government that may have significant impacts on business, community and government. The purpose of a RAS is to present, for public feedback, an evaluation of the likely costs and benefits to business, community and government that could flow from a regulatory proposal.

As with any new regulation, the implementation of this policy will have financial implications for the government, businesses and landholders. The implementation of approval processes to protect SCL will lead to an increase in administration costs for the government, and an increase in compliance costs for development applicants.

In response to this, Synergies Economic Consulting Pty Ltd was contracted to prepare a RAS for public comment.

The purpose of the RAS was to:

Please note: This RAS was an economic assessment of the cost recovery options and costs to business and landholders associated with implementing this policy. It did not assess the overall economic effect on the Queensland economy.

The feedback received from the community on cost recovery options for implementing the SCL policy has resulted in positive changes to improve efficiency and fairness.

On 11 January 2012, a summary of the public feedback was released.

All submissions received were considered and taken into account when finalising the SCL application fees. 

State Planning Policy

A draft State Planning Policy (SPP) was released for public comment on 5 August 2011. Submissions closed on 30 September 2011.

The draft SPP was released to seek public feedback on the planning policy and development assessment framework for protecting SCL under the Sustainable Planning Act 2009.

The draft SPP was reviewed based on the feedback received during consultation and has resulted in positive changes to improve efficiency and fairness, including:

Changes were also incorporated into SCL legislation and the Sustainable Planning Regulation 2009 in response to submissions received.

On 30 January 2012, a summary of the public feedback (PDF, 147K)* was released.

The new SPP, State Planning Policy 1/12: Protection of Queensland’s strategic cropping land (SPP 1/12), commenced on 30 January 2012.

SPP 1/12 is designed to ensure that planning and development assessment under local government planning schemes includes appropriate consideration of SCL.

Please note: The impacts of resources exploration and resources development activities - including mining, gas and petroleum developments - are not addressed in SPP 1/12. These activities are regulated under resources legislation, and provide for grant of tenure and the issuing of environmental authorities for resource-related activities. Arrangements for resource exploration and development activities are established under the legislation.

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Last updated 27 February 2012

Strategic cropping land