Fast-tracking of State significant projects on the way in Queensland

The State Development and Public Works Organisation (Critical Minerals) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2026 (Qld) (the Bill) seeks to empower the Minister and the Coordinator-General (the CG) to facilitate projects of strategic importance to the State of Queensland, through fast-tracking approval processes, improving infrastructure coordination, and simplifying land access and acquisition powers.

While the catalyst for the changes is related to the need to facilitate the development of critical minerals projects (as reflected in the name), the Bill's reach is much broader. It seeks to increase and improve the tools available to the Minister and the CG to give Queensland a competitive edge in project attraction and approvals. The projects most likely to benefit from the changes in the Bill include, but are not limited to, resources, infrastructure, manufacturing and tourism projects. In this Insight, we explain the key changes and their implications.

Background

The Bill proposes major changes to the existing State Development and Public Works Organisation Act 1971 (Qld) (the State Development Act). It will introduce similar powers to those found in legislation recently enacted in South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory. In particular, the new State significance notice and modification order have been modelled on provisions in the interstate legislation.

Better integration for coordinated projects

The Bill will expand the coordinated projects process to integrate the RPI Act approval processes for regional interests development approvals, and certain approvals under the TIA for works and access to State-controlled roads, and interference with railways.

Importantly, in relation to the RPI Act, this will mean a reduction in duplication, particularly in relation to notification and referral.

Under both the RPI Act and the TIA, it is proposed that the Minister would have the power to state conditions, and for these conditions to prevail to the extent of any inconsistency with conditions imposed under the relevant legislation.

These proposed changes will apply to existing coordinated projects for which the CG has not given the proponent its evaluation report.

Modernising the State development area provisions

The Bill proposes a number of new provisions that will modernise the SDA framework.

It will introduce SDA-related development, which is development located outside the SDA but that facilitates development within it. An SDA-related development may be identified and regulated in an approved development scheme, or an SDA-related development may be separately declared by the CG.

The Bill provides for the making of standalone SDA rules by the CG, with the approval of the Minister and the Governor in Council. The SDA rules will set out the machinery provisions for making, assessing and deciding SDA applications and requests in an SDA. They will supplement, but not override, machinery provisions that already exist in SDA development schemes.

The Bill includes new provisions that allow a condition to be imposed on an SDA approval or a change application for development in an SDA that requires the payment of infrastructure charges for the SDA. There are also new provisions authorising a condition that requires an environmental offset to be provided.

The SDA approval currency periods and lapsing provisions will be revised to align with similar provisions in the Planning Act.

The Bill contains detailed provisions dealing with the situation where development will no longer be regulated under an approved development scheme. These provisions deal with SDA applications and requests, SDA approvals and existing lawful uses.

New land access authorities

There are new provisions in the Bill dealing with the grant of access authorities to facilitate land access while seeking to safeguard landowners' interests.

These provisions will allow a proponent of a prescribed project to apply to the CG for an access authority if they consider particular land may be suitable for the project's development or may impact its development. The authorised activities will relate to the proponent investigating the land's suitability for, or potential impact on, the project's development.

The provisions will also allow a proponent of a State strategic project to apply to the CG for an access authority to carry out enabling works on land if they consider it is necessary to do so for the project and, having regard to their minor or temporary nature, it would be appropriate to carry them out under an access authority.

The owner and occupier of land may give the holder of an access authority notice to rectify damage or loss caused by the activities carried out under the authority, and the holder of an access authority must compensate the owner or occupier for damage or loss caused by activities carried out under the authority and not rectified.

Next steps

The Bill was referred to the Primary Industries and Resources Committee. The Committee received 91 written submissions, and a number of the submitters made oral submissions during the public hearing.

The Committee's report on the Bill was published on 7 August 2026. It states that stakeholder responses were mixed, with qualified support from industry and regional development organisations, and concerns expressed by environmental and community groups, and landholders.

Having considered all submissions, the Committee recommended that the Bill be passed, without amendment. However, taking into account the diverse views that stakeholders expressed, the report states that the Government may wish to consider conducting a review of the changes contained in the Bill within five years after commencement.

While the Committee noted that the Bill departs from fundamental legislative principles, it found that the extent of the departure was necessary to achieve the Government's policy objectives and was in a manner that was adequately justified. Similarly, it found that any limits on human rights were proportional and sufficiently justified.

There were statements of reservation from three of the six Committee members, who requested that amendments be made to the Bill. Despite these reservations, it is expected that the Bill will proceed through Parliament unamended and become law. The timing for this is not currently known.

Authored by Bill McCredie & Rosanne Muerling of Allens

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Bill has over 20 years’ experience as an environment and approvals lawyer, specialising in environmental, town planning, natural resources and valuation/resumption law.

Bill is sought after for his strategic advice navigating complex approvals regimes and defeating legal challenges by opponents for major projects. Capitalising on his scientific background, he integrates seamlessly with technical experts on project teams and interprets legal requirements to guide practical approvals implications and advise on concrete actions at project level.

His breadth of expertise spans:

• environmental impact assessment and planning approvals

• environmental licensing, incident response, compliance issues and audits

• contamination of land and remediation programs

• coal and metals mining, oil and gas resources, and extractive industry approvals

• bulk water projects, water licensing, entitlements and resource planning

• environmental and biodiversity offsets requirements, agreements and delivery programs

• greenhouse gas emission reporting, safeguard mechanism requirements and climate change issues

• valuation, compensation and compulsory acquisition of land by governmental authorities.

Rosanne practices in the areas of town planning, environmental, heritage and compulsory acquisition law.

She has a keen interest in, and knowledge of, town planning law, being one of the original authors of Planning and Development Queensland, an online publication about the planning legislation.

Rosanne's experience includes:

• providing planning law advice, reviewing development applications, conducting litigation (appeals and declaratory proceedings) and negotiating and drafting infrastructure agreements with respect to residential, retail, commercial, industrial and infrastructure projects.

• providing environmental law advice, including advice about regulatory compliance, and defending enforcement actions and criminal proceedings.

• acting for property owners with respect to local and state heritage matters, including responding to heritage listings, applying for exemption certificates, negotiating and preparing heritage agreements and advising on the redevelopment of heritage places.

• acting for owners of resumed land, including providing advice, conducting litigation and negotiating and drafting settlement agreements related to compensation.