1 Shaping Tomorrow’s Queensland: A response to the Queensland Growth Management Summit Detailed government response
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Shaping Tomorrow’s Queensland: A response to the Queensland Growth Management Summit Detailed government response
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Foreword On 30 and 31 March 2010, more than 200 people gathered to share ideas and help provide solutions on how to manage future growth in Queensland. Joined by thousands more who watched the event online or contributed their thoughts through supporting consultation processes, the Queensland Growth Management Summit was a great think tank of ideas and enthusiasm. But thinking has to lead to outcomes. Which is why I am pleased to deliver this report, which outlines the ideas raised by the community in relation to growth management and most importantly - details my government’s response. Although around 1400 ideas were developed as part of the summit, not all were practical and achievable. Many related to things my government simply cannot control. Other ideas related to outcomes that will not impact on how we manage growth moving forward. But I am pleased to say that the majority of the ideas and solutions have helped formulate this response. And we must not forget what brought us to this response: population growth. With around 2200 more people calling Queensland home every week, there is community concern about how an increasing population will impact on our everyday lives. Over the next 20 years, Queensland’s population is forecast to rise from 4.4 million to between 5.7 and 7 million people. This growth is predicted to come from record levels of overseas migration and to a lesser extent – higher fertility rates and longevity. Migration and fertility rates are factors that state governments have no control over. Our population growth provides great opportunities for us as a state. It creates jobs, enriches our cultural environment and provides a strong basis for our economic future. The state has a responsibility to plan for growth: to make it sustainable; to harness the potential it brings, and ensure we mitigate the risks that can come with it. We have a clear role to create a future for Queensland in our regions, and to protect and enhance our environment as we grow. But I remain steadfast in my commitment that this is not the end of this discussion. My government needs to keep up this conversation with the community, to monitor progress and implementation of this response, and to continue a dialogue with all Queenslanders about the realities, trade-offs, and opportunities related to growth. This will require coordination across all three levels of government, and I am pleased to see the Prime Minister appointed a federal population minister in April to develop a National Population Strategy. I realise this conversation is not an easy one, but managing growth is a challenge that I am prepared to confront – for our future and the future of our children. ANNA BLIGH MP PREMIER OF QUEENSLAND
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Contents 1. Introduction.............................................................................................................. 4
Purpose of this paper ............................................................................................................4 Why a summit? .....................................................................................................................4 About the summit ..................................................................................................................5
2. Queensland Government growth management strategy ......................................... 6 3. Aspirations and ideas .............................................................................................. 8
Consulting on growth ............................................................................................................8 Capturing aspirations and ideas..........................................................................................10
4. Government response to ideas.............................................................................. 12 Delivering on the ideas........................................................................................................12 Shaping the future...............................................................................................................16 Strengthening our regions......................................................................................................... 20 Promoting liveable and affordable communities ....................................................................... 25 Responding to planning and development .............................................................................. 25 Responding to compact communities...................................................................................... 30 Responding to building liveable communities.......................................................................... 33 Responding to urban design.................................................................................................... 36 Responding to sustainable urban development....................................................................... 41
Delivering infrastructure ............................................................................................................ 44 Protecting our lifestyle and environment ................................................................................... 46 Responding to protecting our lifestyle and environment.......................................................... 47 Responding to renewable energy............................................................................................ 52 Responding to ensuring food security for future generations .................................................. 54 Responding to consumption and waste reduction ................................................................... 56
Connecting communities .....................................................................................................58 Implementation ............................................................................................................. 62
List of acronyms used in this response ..................................................................................... 70 Appendices ................................................................................................................... 72
Appendix 1: Summit Advisory Panel members Appendix 2: Consultation statistics Appendix 3: Social market research Appendix 4: Summit program Appendix 5: Summit attendees Appendix 6: Summit communiqué Appendix 7: Summit workshop ideas Appendix 8: All growth management ideas (collated)
© The State of Queensland (Department of the Premier and Cabinet) 2010. Published by the Queensland Government, May 2010, 100 George Street, Brisbane Qld 4000 The Queensland Government supports and encourages the dissemination and exchange of information. However, copyright protects this document. The State of Queensland has no objection to this material being reproduced, made available online or electronically but only if it is recognised as the owner of the copyright and this material remains unaltered. Copyright enquiries about this publication should be directed to the Department of the Premier and Cabinet by email to [email protected] or in writing to PO Box 15185, City East Qld 4002.
Copies of this publication can be obtained by contacting 1800 082 105 or at www.qld.gov.au/growthsummit
Contact us Website: www.qld.gov.au/growthsummit Phone: 1800 082 105 Email: [email protected]
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1. Introduction Purpose of this paper This document provides an overview of the Queensland Growth Management Summit (summit), hosted by the Premier of Queensland, the Honourable Anna Bligh MP on Tuesday 30 and Wednesday 31 March 2010 at the State Library of Queensland in Brisbane. It describes the community ideas raised at the summit (and as part of the supporting consultation program) and details the government’s responses. Why a summit? Queensland’s population has almost doubled in two decades, from 2.6 million people in 1986 to 4.4 people million in 2009 and current forecasts suggest it will be between 5.8 and 7 million people by 2031. That equates to long-term growth of around 87,300 people per year, or 1700 people per week. Currently around 2200 new people are added to Queensland’s population each week. Queensland’s capital city of Brisbane and its surrounding region of South East Queensland (SEQ) is one of Australia’s fastest growing regions with population growth in 2008-09 of around 84,000 people. Queensland would need to export people if it wanted to keep its population at current levels. Average annual population growth, Queensland, five years to 30 June, 1986 to 2031 The challenges of managing population growth revolve around ensuring our lifestyles and environment are protected and our economy is strong enough to support our current standard of living. Growth brings opportunities but it also concerns many people, raising the questions of how and where growth can be managed sustainably.
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Against this context, the summit was held to engage experts, and the broader community, in an educated and informed dialogue about the decisions needed to ensure population growth contributes to, rather than diminishes, the prosperity, liveability and environmental sustainability of our state. It provided an opportunity to gain valuable industry and community feedback on, and input into, the government’s growth strategy, through discussion and debate on the major issues and matters of public concern facing Queensland in relation to population growth. The purpose of the summit was to offer solutions for a way forward, build on existing programs and deliver new strategies that will enable us to adapt to a future that includes a growing Queensland population. About the summit
The event was facilitated by Kerry O’Brien and Anna Reynolds and addressed by the Honourable Anna Bligh MP, the Federal Treasurer, the Honourable Wayne Swan MP, and Lord Mayor Campbell Newman. The summit participants included ten Queensland Government Ministers and mayors from cities and towns throughout Queensland. These government leaders joined members of the public and international, Australian and local experts and leaders in planning, development, infrastructure, sustainability, industry and economics.
The summit was designed to include a mix of keynote presentations, panel question and answer sessions and workshops across three themes of sustainability, prosperity and liveability. A high-level advisory panel was appointed in the lead up to the summit. This panel drew on their experience in areas such as population trends, climate change, architecture, planning and industry to provide advice regarding the evidence about population growth and how it affects Queensland, community issues and concerns, and input on the format and process for the summit. The panel also played an ambassador role to raise awareness of the summit itself. The panel comprised: • Bernard Salt, leading demographer and trend forecaster • Michael Rayner, Queensland Director, Cox Rayner • Dyan Currie, Queensland President, Planning Institute of Australia • Brendan Gleeson, Professor of Urban Policy, Griffith University • Heather Ridout, CEO, Australian Industry Group • Ian Lowe, President, Australian Conservation Foundation • Guy Gibson, General Manager of Government Relations, Delfin Lend Lease.
Mr Tim Flannery, 2007 Australian of the Year and leading scientist, was originally on the panel but had to retire due to pressing international commitments.
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2. Queensland Government growth management strategy The government’s existing growth management strategy sits within the regional planning framework. This strategy was discussed in various forums leading up to and at the summit with the consensus that Queensland has a world-class strategy in place that includes long-term integrated land use and infrastructure planning. Statutory regional plans were introduced in 2005 to bring in regulatory policies for managing growth. Covering around 90 per cent of Queensland’s population, these plans establish a preferred settlement pattern to stop urban sprawl, manage infrastructure requirements and protect our natural environment. Queensland’s regional planning framework has been recognised by the federal government as a leading model that links infrastructure provision to robust long term planning. This means Queensland is well positioned to attract federal investment in significant infrastructure projects throughout the state. At a level below regional plans, local government planning schemes are important tools for determining the detail around where and how communities grow based on a range of matters including infrastructure availability and engagement with local communities.
South East Queensland Regional Plan In South East Queensland, where 70 per cent of all new Queenslanders are located, the South East Queensland Regional Plan projects a need for 754,000 new dwellings by 2031. That means for every 10 homes we have today, another 6.7 will be needed in 20 years. The South East Queensland Regional Plan outlines a compact settlement form that results in around 85 per cent of the region being protected from urban development. But stopping sprawl means more medium and higher density development in appropriate areas – like major centres and key public transport corridors. The South East Queensland Regional Plan is supported by the South East Queensland Infrastructure Plan and Program (SEQIPP) which is updated annually. Key strategic directions of the plan include: • protecting and supporting regional landscape and rural production • providing enough land to accommodate
future growth • promoting land use efficiency • enhancing the identity of regional communities • facilitating growth in the Western Corridor • supporting rural futures • providing timely infrastructure and services • integrating land use, transport and
economic activity. When the South East Queensland Regional Plan was introduced, there was broad consensus about the benefits of growth. However, as the region has grown, the focus of communities has appeared to shift from the benefits of growth to the impacts on lifestyle.
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The alignment of regional planning and infrastructure programming, delivery and funding provided by the South East Queensland Regional Plan and SEQIPP is unprecedented in Australia. It provides a critical tool for supporting concurrent planning and infrastructure delivery facilitating integration of transport systems with urban and economic activity centres and creating a platform for infrastructure to lead development rather than respond to it. The significance of the South East Queensland Regional Plan’s policy and strategies have been recognised at the national and international level with the plan being awarded the Planning Institute of Australia’s prestigious national Award for Planning Excellence in 2006. In recently releasing the State of Our Cities Report (March 2010), the federal government cited the South East Queensland Regional Plan as being Australian best practice. Numerous international planning commentators have also noted the plan represents international best practice.
South East Queensland decentralisation initiative The Queensland Government has previously announced a decentralisation initiative within South East Queensland that is to be implemented in four stages between 2011 and 2017. The Government Office Accommodation Decentralisation Project will see over 5600 public servants moved out of the Brisbane city centre with opportunities to work closer to home. It is estimated the Government will save approximately $188 million in reduced government office leasing costs and will stimulate urban renewal and ease pressure on public transport networks to the city.
About South East Queensland South East Queensland is currently home to almost three million people. Comprising 11 local government areas and around 23,000 square kilometres, the region stretches 240 kilometres from Noosa in the north to Coolangatta in the south, and 140 kilometres west out to Toowoomba.
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3. Aspirations and ideas In the lead up to the summit, Queenslanders had the opportunity to share their views on population growth by participating in the Queensland Government’s engagement program, surveys, polls, media discussions, and forums held by other organisations including the development industry and environmental groups. People from many different backgrounds have expressed thousands of views and ideas that relate to population growth – what it means for them personally, their industry or their area of interest. Consulting on growth When the government announced the summit in November 2009, it was acknowledged there were community concerns about growth and that consensus on this issue had shifted from the benefits growth brings to concerns about impacts. The summit was the opportunity to bring community members and experts together to thoroughly discuss the topic of managing population growth. The objective of the government’s consultation program was to: • raise community awareness about the drivers of growth and the state’s role in
managing growth • collect evidence of the key values, aspirations, concerns and interests of community
about population growth and the challenges associated with population growth • engage the community and industry in shaping the future prosperity, lifestyle and
environment of Queenslanders – making our state stronger, smarter, healthier, greener and fairer.
The following were used in meeting these objectives and were in place in the lead up to the summit: • website • background paper • online survey • stakeholder meetings • mail outs • advertising • facebook • voxpops • media releases • e-newsletters • an interactive scenario modelling tool (SEQ Futures) • people’s question time in Parliament. For me the summit has been an invaluable process as a teacher and it’s been interesting to think about my students’ views and hear the same views coming out of the working groups at the summit. – Community delegate
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I have been really really impressed with the summit. There’s been a range of creative solutions with options for government at all levels and options for the community. I’ve been surprised that 240 people with such disparate views could come together, bring their passion and commitment, be so prepared to listen to alternate viewpoints then sit down and come up with solutions. The summit has exceeded my expectations in success. – Planning industry representative I really came here to be a troublemaker because I thought the summit would be really development focussed. But I have been very impressed with the breadth of views we have been subjected to and the attitudes coming out of the group work. This has been much broader than it would have seemed at first. – Community delegate The website recorded more than 13,000 visits to mid April 2010. Around 2000 people have used the SEQ Futures Tool, more than 1100 participated in people’s question time and more than 750 completed the online survey. Other organisations and industries also held events in the lead up to the summit with the aim of communicating their particular view, providing a community forum, canvassing member ideas or presenting a submission for consideration as part of the summit proceedings. In February and March 2010, around 2000 people attended 22 related events. Individual submissions were presented from organisations including the Australian Industry Group, Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Council of Mayors (SEQ), Local Government Association of Queensland, Property Council of Australia (Queensland Division), Planning Institute of Australia (Queensland Division), SEQ Catchments, Brisbane Institute and Tourism and Transport Forum, Growcom, Cement Concrete & Aggregates Australia, Board for Urban Places and Australian Institute of Architects. Academic research published immediately before the summit included Capping Population Growth in South East Queensland: Issues and Options by The Queensland Centre for Population Research at the University of Queensland. Around 1200 media articles were published on the topic of population growth during January, February and March 2010 in Queensland and national media. In addition, The 7:30 Report on ABC television ran a week-long series The population debate: can Australia handle it? All of this coverage generated debate and further conversations. These events and activities culminated in the summit which was attended by 216 invited delegates, including 40 community members randomly selected from a list of 167 who had registered interest in attending via the website. Thousands of people also viewed summit proceedings via the online streaming facility with some posing questions on the topics being discussed. The summit was one part of an ongoing discussion on the topic of managing growth. Appendix 2 provides more detailed information on consultation activities and the related events.
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Capturing aspirations and ideas The Queensland Government commissioned social research on population growth and liveability in South East Queensland to help understand community views on population growth and priorities for protecting liveability prior to the summit (Appendix 3). This research highlighted that while South East Queensland residents strongly agreed that they really enjoyed living in the region, they were polarised about population growth’s effect on them and their communities. Residents spoke of concerns about congestion; strains on infrastructure, public transport and health services; competition for jobs; crowding; and housing affordability. The research highlighted factors that residents felt should be safe-guarded as the population grows. Priorities included: safety in own homes; sense of community; safety in the local community; clean, pollution free air; ease of getting around; reasonable cost of living; great education system; character of housing; laid back lifestyle and the range of flora and fauna.
Similar views were reflected in the online survey results, although this survey was self-selecting so the results cannot be taken as representative of all Queenslanders. Users of the SEQ Futures tool have also had the opportunity to record preferences for our future way of life with strong support for public transport and environmental protection. Around 2000 visitors to the summit website since mid-March have used this interactive tool to choose from a series of priorities for the future. More than 900 visitors rated their priorities – with the top five being good public transport, environmental protection, walkable local centres, vibrant cities and town centres, and jobs close to home. More than 850 visitors then went on to make choices about how to manage growth – based on series of choices relating to development patterns and transport options. The research, online survey and SEQ Futures results indicate that people are keen to preserve greenspace by encouraging higher density living and they are keen to see more focus on developing the public transport network. However, the majority of people individually still prefer lower density housing even if it means living further from city centres.
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Many of the views highlighted by the research and survey were also raised at the summit. The full list of summit workshop ideas (Appendix 7) was published on the summit website two weeks after the event. All up, around 1400 ideas were generated by the summit and associated activities. The ideas covered a broad range of topics with many supporting a common theme, for example nearly every group at the summit presented at least one idea that related to public transport use. These 1400 ideas have been collated and summarised to remove duplication (Appendix 8). The ideas generated by the summit were the result of discussions broadly themed as prosperity, sustainability and liveability. Summit participants also prioritised their ideas according to group consensus. All the ideas were considered when developing this government response. The most common topics raised related to housing generally but more specifically its design, location and sustainability along with a desire for regionalisation and a focus on public transport. Throughout the summit, greater engagement with the community on planning issues, and a strong desire to protect the environment when accommodating growth were consistent messages. Solutions to issues raised ranged from a federal population policy, to a series of state policies and initiatives, through to individual behaviour change.
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4. Government response to ideas Although the Queensland Government has a strong regional planning framework that was well supported during the summit and associated consultation, it is acknowledged that there are ideas that may support and enhance its delivery. In closing the summit, the Premier thanked the delegates for their ideas to build on existing policies and develop new strategies and made a commitment to consider all ideas and determine how the government is going to act on them. As many ideas were raised several times or followed a common theme, the responses have been grouped according to the key outcomes sought rather than responding individually to the 1400 ideas. Many ideas also revolved around work that is already being undertaken so the responses also provide details of programs currently in place to address some of the issues raised. Some ideas and responses were also common to different themes. The ideas have been grouped under the themes of: • Shaping the future • Strengthening our regions • Promoting liveable and affordable communities • Delivering infrastructure • Protecting our lifestyle and environment • Connecting communities. Delivering on the ideas Many of the ideas raised at the summit and associated consultation are already part of existing government policies and strategies. In responding to the ideas, the government has focussed on 22 key initiatives, with a further 25 supporting actions, that deliver new ways to manage growth. With outcomes focussed on the next 18 months, the delivery of these actions will be overseen by the Department of Infrastructure and Planning.
Shaping the future Key initiatives: 1. Establish Growth Management Queensland, a new agency within the Department of
Infrastructure and Planning to lead the government’s growth management agenda 2. Investigate a new Liveability Grants Program to support new initiatives that engage local
neighbourhoods in planning for the future 3. Develop a community engagement strategy for growth management
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Strengthening our regions Key initiatives: 4. Develop a Queensland Regionalisation Strategy to encourage population growth and
economic development outside South East Queensland and help build stronger regions 5. Introduce an $11,000 Regional First Home Owners Grant for building new homes to
encourage regional growth, providing a $4000 boost to the existing First Home Owners Grant.
6. Decentralise government agencies in South East Queensland to Fitzgibbon and Bowen Hills as the next step in the decentralisation agenda
7. Relocate some government functions to regional Queensland to progress the regionalisation agenda
8. Develop a Townsville Futures Plan to support regional growth and economic development in Townsville in partnership with the Townsville City Council to support regional growth in Townsville
Supporting actions: • Partner with the Australian Government to develop a Queensland Migration Plan, which will
inform the Queensland Regionalisation Strategy, to attract skilled migrants to meet employment needs in specialised fields and in desired locations
• Work with the Australian Government to develop a National Population Strategy (that is then reflected in a state policy)
• Develop and include employment projections in all regional plans to support more jobs closer to where people live as part of the preparation of regional plans across Queensland
Promoting liveable and affordable communities Key initiatives 9. Task the Urban Land Development Authority with responsibility for delivering major new
satellite communities in priority greenfield areas, initially at Ripley Valley, Yarrabilba and Flagstone. A mandated percentage of all dwellings development across these areas to be affordable to people on low and moderate incomes
10. Establish an Infrastructure Charges Taskforce drawing to further reform local government infrastructure charges, including opportunities to simplify charges and provide greater certainty
11. Streamline state planning arrangements to improve housing affordability and increase land supply
12. Release a discussion paper on ‘Go Zones and No-Go Zones’ to provide greater planning certainty for local communities in partnership with local governments
13. Investigate new ways to deliver affordable housing which support people of lower to middle incomes, including piloting a social housing project at Cooper’s Plains
14. Design an athlete’s ecoVillage as part of Queensland’s 2018 Commonwealth Games bid, suitable for post-Games reuse as a transit oriented community on the Gold Coast
15. Support sustainable urban development through leadership including piloting programs and delivering best practice demonstration projects as such the Yeerongpilly Transit Oriented Development
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Supporting actions: • Release Transit Oriented Development Guidelines that identify best practice in delivery of
compact communities by September 2010, supported by training and workshops to build capacity around transit oriented development delivery
• Seek expressions of interest from the private sector to develop a landmark transit oriented precinct focussed on Coorparoo Junction in partnership with Brisbane City Council (following expiry of the current leases)
• Prepare annual Growth Management Program Reports to monitor land supply, track development against dwelling targets and recommend actions to manage growth in South East Queensland
• Review the scope of the Urban Land Development Authority, including consideration of its role in influencing land supply, fostering competitions and potential compulsory acquisition powers
• Provide leadership in urban design through exemplar developments, the Design Triennial, and the preparation of a guideline for government buildings, precincts and infrastructure
• Encourage best practice in urban design through research, funding and programs aimed at increasing urban design skills
Delivering infrastructure Key initiatives 16. Introduce a Queensland Infrastructure Plan (QIP) that links infrastructure delivery with
population growth and economic development priorities. The QIP will integrate existing state infrastructure planning documents from 2011-12
17. Work in partnership with local government to confirm the distribution of dwelling targets within South East Queensland through the development of a QIP. This will help strengthen the link between infrastructure investment and accommodating dwelling targets within the existing urban footprint and investigation areas in the South East Queensland Regional Plan
Supporting actions: • Work more closely with local governments in sequencing infrastructure projects to take into
account local infrastructure investment • Investigate options (such as tolling policies) to fund infrastructure in greenfield sites which
rely on high levels of state investment • Examine alternative mechanisms for the financing of state infrastructure
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Protecting our lifestyle and environment Key initiatives 18. Develop a long-term strategy to transform the breaks between urban areas in South East
Queensland into major new greenspace and outdoor recreational opportunities 19. Improve Queensland’s environment and natural resource protection by finalising a number
of key documents, including the Coastal Management Plan and the State Planning Policy for Healthy Waters
20. Test the feasibility of relocating part of the Mayne Railyards at Bowen Hills to develop major new inner city greenspace
Supporting actions: • Release the final Greenspace Strategy and develop Greenspace Network Plans for key
regions to identify future greenspace areas • Ensure greenspace is a central consideration in all new ULDA and structure plan areas • Identify critical gaps in the quality and coverage of data needed to support the State of
the Region Report • Release a Queensland Integrated Waterway Monitoring Framework which will improve
waterway monitoring and contribute to enhanced land and water management • Investigate a ‘Most Sustainable Suburb’ initiative using social media to foster more
sustainable living • Release the Valuing the things we waste: Queensland’s Waste Avoidance and Resource
Efficiency Strategy to reform current waste management practices
Connecting communities Key initiatives 21. Set ambitious 20-year targets to guide transformation of South East Queensland’s
transport network, including increasing the share of active and public transport 22. Seek Federal Government assistance to deliver a new river rail crossing to benefit rail
commuters throughout the region Supporting actions: • Finalise and release the draft ConnectingSEQ to provide the blueprint for future transport
needs, help tackle congestion and progress the vision of ‘15 minute neighbourhoods’ • Conduct a trail of Green Pods for cyclists providing secure bike storage and end of trip
facilities at Darra, Bald Hills and Varsity Lakes rail stations • Release the new Queensland Cycle Strategy to encourage more daily cycling trips • Encourage local government to provide funding for expanded public transport services and
infrastructure • Pilot shared car-parking in a transit oriented community precinct to deliver more efficient use
of land and grater community amenity • Explore opportunities to rollout wireless internet connection to major public spaces and
major public transport stations • Work with the Federal Government to maximise the geographic reach of the National
Broadband Network
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Shaping the future In order to effectively manage future population growth in Queensland, improved and ongoing community engagement was considered critical. This was a common theme in the community’s feedback prior to the summit and it was raised in all of the summit workshops. The community needs to be aware of the relevant issues, educated about the choices available, conversant with the government’s current solutions, and engaged with the options moving forward. A Queensland population policy was suggested by a wide range of summit participants and a large number of online contributors prior to the summit. It also featured in several submissions by stakeholders prior to the summit and during many of the associated events. The need for, and importance of, partnerships across all levels of government, with industry and the community was raised frequently at the summit and through related consultation channels. These partnerships were seen as critical in the development of a Queensland population policy.
Community ideas • Require further State support for local government • Development of Queensland population policy. It was acknowledged that this policy would
need to be developed in partnership with the Federal Government, and in consultation with local governments. The ideas for a population policy centred around the desire to either stop population growth altogether, stabilise it or manage the current forecasts: • stopping population growth by the federal government ceasing ‘incentives’ such as the
baby bonus and high levels of immigration • stabilising population growth by rectifying the current age imbalance and then cease
growing at that point • managing the current forecasts by reviewing the capacity of various regions, developing
settlement patterns accordingly and regularly monitoring and reviewing outcomes • Allow communities to have a significant say in the long-term development of their region.
This could occur through: • existing local government channels. Although some local governments would need
government support in the form of tools, skills and funding • the creation of local decision-making bodies (community boards, local planning groups) • more local meetings and information sessions • finding and rewarding community champions • developing community-based websites • establishing and maintaining community operated facilities such as gardens and multi-
purpose spaces • Streamline regulatory systems and requirements to reduce red tape • Promote partnerships between research organisations, business and government – both
local and international • Use tax and other incentives to encourage investment in research and development and
innovation • Support small and medium enterprise (SME) participation in research and development
through partnerships, collaboration and shared facility arrangements as well as improved intellectual property arrangements and access to public information and data
• Focus on skilled migration and improve cross-jurisdiction recognition of qualifications
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• Continuing and facilitating the conversation with Queenslanders on growth management by: • continuing online channels through information provision, surveys and discussion forums • calling on the media to develop a documentary to explain why we need to manage
population growth and communicate the choices (including alternative living options) • establishing a one-stop-shop for growth management information and
engagement processes • establishing a user-friendly guide to the planning process in Queensland to clarify
how it works • providing easy-to-understand information about higher density living in terms of the cost
of living benefits • using three-dimensional modelling to demonstrate medium and high density
development proposals to affected communities • developing consultation guidelines for local government to ensure quality community
engagement in land use planning processes • working with industry to develop tools to help educate builders and buyers on the
benefits of good design • encouraging community ownership of sustainable outcomes through a behaviour
change program • In relation to enhanced governance to support implementation:
• strengthen governance by partnering with local government and engaging with the federal government
• establish a centralised land authority
What is the government doing already about shaping the future? The Queensland Government recognised the level of community concern regarding growth and its impacts and held the Growth Management Summit on 31 and 31 March 2010. It was supported by a significant consultation process. On 28 March 2010, the Queensland Premier wrote an open letter to the federal government calling on them to develop a population policy to clearly articulate the impacts on Queensland. On 4 April 2010, the Federal Government appointed a Population Minister. The Queensland Government works in partnership with local government and seeks community involvement in planning and development decisions: • Regional plans, reviewed every five years, provide a framework to engage Queenslanders
on their vision and objectives for their region’s medium to long term future Each regional plan has been developed in two stages. First, the draft was released to the public with an awareness raising and information campaign. This included public information sessions, websites with draft maps, metropolitan and regional newspaper and radio advertising, mail outs to households, a hot line phone number and the provision of free copies of the draft plan by CD-ROM or in hard copy. Secondly, submissions were received and implemented in the final version.
• The Sustainable Planning Act 2009 (SPA) established mechanisms for community engagement in the planning decisions that impact growth management. This legislation introduced greater flexibility for local governments to design consultation mechanisms suitable to their communities and also included additional consultation requirements for development applications.
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• Over the past decade, the government has made a significant contribution towards the state’s productivity under Smart State. In that time, $3.6 billion was invested in research and development and innovation, resulting in 36 new research institutes and 60,000 new jobs in knowledge intensive industries such as aviation, biotechnology, advanced manufacturing and creative industries. The Smart State Strategy continues to support research projects, research infrastructure, researchers, research development, knowledge diffusion, collaboration and the commercialisation of research and development.
Government has committed to delivering a Toward Q2, Tomorrow’s Queensland (Q2) target to increase the proportion of business investing in innovation and research and development by 50 per cent by 2020. In 2006-07, 36 per cent of Queensland businesses undertook innovation – the highest proportion of all states and territories in Australia. There are many policies and programs in place aimed at improving Queensland’s innovation levels, including: • The $91 million Smart Futures Fund, which provides grants to support collaborative
research projects, skills development and innovative research throughout the state. The fund is stimulating cutting-edge research projects and attracting top-quality scientists to Queensland to utilise Queensland's world-class research facilities. Grants are provided to support Queensland researchers to undertake collaborative projects with other Australian and international research bodies and industries, including placing senior researchers in industry/business and former company founders (Commercialisation Fellowships for Researchers) or entrepreneurial researchers in research institutions (Entrepreneurs-in-Residence) to drive the commercialisation of public sector research and increase industry-lead research and technology solutions.
• The Smart Industry Policy – a targeted approach to get government, researchers and business working together to enhance productivity growth, with over 200 actions across 15 strategic priority sectors located throughout Queensland.
• Innovation mentoring assistance for businesses through a range of programs run by the Australian Institute for Commercialisation and the Queensland-wide Innovation Network
• Providing commercialisation support for early stage companies in knowledge-intensive industries to develop their capacity and assist them to be internationally competitive, through the Ideas to Market programs. The range of initiatives include business incubation services (assistance to help start-up businesses stay in business for the long term) and early stage commercialisation support, to help businesses and entrepreneurs commercialise and apply their new inventions.
• Research and development forums and technology clinics offering businesses and entrepreneurs solutions to technical product, process or service issues or growth opportunities.
The Queensland Government has introduced a range of other tools and initiatives to facilitate community involvement in broader policy and decision making throughout the state, including: • a dedicated website, Get Involved, which provides a portal to a range of community
engagement tools and guidelines. It allows the community to access a wide range of consultations in the one place, in a consistent manner. It also ensures state agencies have the necessary basic skills and tools to engage with the community effectively.
• Toward Q2, Tomorrow’s Queensland to establish ten measurable targets for 2020 across five ambitions: strong, health, smart, green and fair. To achieve the targets, there are a series of measures to drive performance across government, industry and communities, including the development of target delivery plans.
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• Community Cabinets which give individuals and community groups the chance to make formal deputations to ministers or chat informally over a cup of tea at a community gathering. These community events are designed to bridge the gap between the government and the people.
• People's Question Time, a one hour question and answer session streamed live online, addressing topics of community interest. Community members are invited to submit questions to a panel, consisting of the Premier of Queensland, a Queensland Government Minister and up to three issue experts. The questions can be submitted online both before and during the session, as well as asked direct by audience members at the session.
• Promoting the accessibility of government through social media. The Premier is an active user on Facebook and Twitter. The Queensland Growth Management Summit has its own Facebook page.
What will the government do about shaping the future? 1. Establish Growth Management Queensland, a new agency within the Department of
Infrastructure and Planning to lead the government’s growth management agenda. This will deliver: • a more coordinated approach to growth management in Queensland • better linkages between land use planning, infrastructure delivery, economic
development, protection of environmental assets, expansion of greenspace and affordable housing
• a complementary approach to regional planning and regionalisation
2. Investigate a new Liveability Grants Program to support new initiatives that engage local neighbourhoods in planning for the future
3. Develop a communication engagement strategy for growth management, which includes:
• developing a suite of community-focussed tools to explain the planning process in Queensland and the opportunities it provides for participation
• enhancing support to local government engagement in the delivery of regional planning outcomes
• establishing a community and industry reference panel to provide strategic advice to government
• monitoring community opinion through online tools and research • contacting summit attendees in early 2011 to determine their interest in reconvening
the summit to gauge progress and determine any further implementation mechanisms required
What can community and business do? • Get involved in planning for their local area • Visit the growth management website • Encourage broadcast media to develop a documentary to explain to the community why we
need responsible population growth • Businesses could contribute to their productivity, by introducing a new ideas, product or
process which increases business efficiency
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Strengthening our regions The summit heard that our population growth is good for the economy for a number of reasons – it drives business and jobs’ growth, offsets the impacts of an ageing population and improves productivity through skilled migration which broadens the skills base. Queensland’s strong economy and solid economic growth contributes to our high standard of living. Population growth has helped drive the economic growth of Queensland. The right type of population growth in terms of age and skills, directed to the right areas of the state can continue to contribute to economic growth. Typically, interstate and international migrants have a higher skills or education levels than existing Queensland residents. This is a positive factor for the state’s productivity – another component which contributes to our high living standards and wealth. While the benefits which accrue from population growth were recognised by summit participants, some expressed concern about the ability of infrastructure and services to cope with the increased population. However, as the summit noted, population growth may also provide the critical mass required to support infrastructure provision and improved services. For example, Brisbane’s busway system delivered an extra 7.2 million in-service kilometres, a 20 per cent increase (from 37.9m to 45.2m) and an additional 323 new buses, a 40 per cent increase (from 789 to 1112 buses) between 2005-06 and 2009-10. Approximately 484 extra drivers were required as a result of the growth. Throughout the summit and in consultation, the need to spread the benefits, and to a lesser degree the impacts, of population growth across Queensland was raised. While the majority of migrants to Queensland currently choose to settle and work in the south-east corner, social research indicated that one in ten people could be encouraged to move to a regional centre. Regionalising, or decentralising, jobs and population growth to regional centres is beneficial as it will promote economic development in regional centres as well as help address the skills shortages faced by business and industry. Encouraging the decentralisation of population growth to Queensland’s regions presents opportunities to boost the liveability and economic viability of our regions and reduce population pressures in South East Queensland.
Community ideas • Implement employment creation strategies and broaden the economic base to build resilient,
sustainable communities • Provide economic infrastructure such as transport and information communication
technology (ICT) to attract industry investment in the regions • Provide incentives to encourage people and businesses to move to the regions, such as
financial assistance with moving costs, stamp duty exemptions, lower rates and utility costs, tax rebates, first home owners boost for regional Queensland
• Encourage migrants to locate in regional areas, including linking migrants to the skill, social and economic development needs of the regions
• Develop regional economic and industry development plans, which help identify challenges for industry investment, strategies for meeting the skill needs of industry, match infrastructure needs of industry, and prioritise new industries for each region
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• Invest mining and resource royalties into local services and infrastructure as well as up-skilling and qualifying local jobseekers to enhance their employability for upcoming major developments in their communities
• Facilitate travel between regional centres, such as a free flight for regional families to Brisbane every year, or high-speed rail linking regional centres
• Employ long term planning to minimise the impact of boom/bust cycles and plan for after the peak of growth in small regional communities
• Build the capacity of local government to address local needs. For example, assessing major developments and attracting investment
• Invest in skills development, particularly life-long learning opportunities and local skills matching
• Locate government jobs and offices in the regions, to act as an anchor workforce • Provide social infrastructure and services such as cultural, arts and sports facilities,
education and training, health care and public transport to improve lifestyle opportunities in the regions
• Promote and market the lifestyle opportunities and competitive advantages already present in the regions
• Encourage flexible work arrangements such as telecommuting, flexible working hours, and digital workplace solutions
• Support continued workforce participation by mature aged workers • Invest in emerging high tech, green and knowledge industries and support existing
industries to take advantage of technological/digital solutions • Develop and support stronger local economies such as through diversified industries
and populations The summit recorded considerable support for regionalisation. A survey of summit participants found that 74 per cent believe growth in regions can help relieve pressures in South East Queensland and 85 per cent believed that it was very important to encourage population growth in other regions. Many participants emphasised that the suitability of regional centres for additional population growth should be evaluated – according to infrastructure capacity, employment opportunities and environmental constraints.
What is the government doing already about regionalisation? The government has recognised the need to support growth in regional Queensland through its regional planning framework. Existing and proposed statutory regional plans and infrastructure programs support decentralised growth centres (such as South East Queensland’s Western Corridor), manage regional growth and protect the lifestyle and environment. Statutory regional plans have been prepared for the Far North Queensland, Central West, South West, North West, and Maranoa-Balonne regions. Integrated Regional Transport Plans (IRTPs) are aligned to regional plans. They provide transport strategies to manage growth, identify priority infrastructure improvements for further investigation and establish a framework for detailed planning and investment decisions. IRTPs have been prepared for South East Queensland and Townsville-Thuringowa. Regional and transport planning is supported by significant infrastructure investments throughout Queensland. The Queensland Government’s infrastructure spend in 2009-10 is estimated to be $18.2 billion. It is estimated that we spend significantly more on in infrastructure and services in the regions than in South East Queensland – around 40-60 per cent more per capita.
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Broadband infrastructure could have a catalytic role in stimulating industry investment. The Queensland Government is supporting the Federal Government roll out the National Broadband Network (NBN) to a pilot site of more than 3000 homes and businesses in Townsville by making existing infrastructure available to support increased bandwidth, providing planning and legislation support for the roll out, and encouraging business and industry to take advantage of the increased bandwidth. The pilot will result in access to higher speed internet, better access to online services and new business opportunities. The Government has introduced policies to co-locate community and knowledge-based businesses with universities, research institutes and hospitals to facilitate collaboration and skills sharing, new approaches and inspire thinking, through the Smart Communities project For innovation to occur in business, it is essential that Queensland employers and employees have appropriate skill sets and workplace conditions that enable creativity and innovation to flourish. To help broaden and strengthen Queenslander’s skills, the government established a Q2 target for three out of four Queenslanders to hold trade, training or tertiary qualifications by 2020. To achieve this target, the Queensland Government is investing $1 billion through the Queensland Skills Plan to overhaul vocational training and education, establish new alliances to better match training with industry needs and fund thousands of extra trades training places to address skills shortages. Queensland currently leads the nation in school-based apprenticeships and traineeships with 41 per cent of the national pool of commencements. One challenge is ensuring people are trained with the skills that Queensland’s industries need. A range of programs are in place to help skill people for the professions, including: • Building Bridges to the Professions, which helps make career pathways to specific
professions such as ICT and nursing more flexible by making more entry and exit points available, encouraging more flexible work/study arrangements, making more linkages between training programs, annually assessing priority professional skill shortages in industry and government, and identifying collaborative action to address them.
• The Innovative Skilling Partnership Program – Engineering and Construction – to upskill engineering workers through 450 high level training places over four years.
• A new focus on skill shortages in key professions including the funding of 450 training places for engineering associate professionals, and 30 scholarships and 30 fellowships for vocational health educators.
• Skilling Queenslanders for Work – aimed at helping disadvantaged jobseekers get the skills and training they need to compete for full-time jobs and meet the changing needs of the labour market. Funding for all programs is allocated across regions, prioritised by local needs. Queensland’s Green Army is part of this initiative and aims to create 3000 new jobs across the state within three years.
• Developed two-year outlook employment projections for regions following the formation of the Employment Taskforce.
Queensland is implementing a range of strategies to encourage flexible work arrangements to boost continued workforce participation, including: • A work-life balance strategy, to address attraction and retention of employees by improving
the uptake of work-life balance policies for the Queensland public and private sectors. • Flexible workplace pilots which encourage telecommuting (working from home),
compressing the working week, and earlier or later start and finish times. • the Flexible Workplace Program: Supported Implementation, which will build on the
successes of the flexible workplace pilot and encourage flexible working in mainstream workplace practice.
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Market research conducted in the lead up to the summit looked at drivers for regional population movements. Tabled in Parliament on 11 March 2010, the survey of 580 households across seven regions (Cairns, Townsville, Mackay, Gladstone and Rockhampton region, Wide Bay Burnett, Toowoomba and South East Queensland) indicated that employment opportunities as well as lifestyle and family reasons were the key drivers for people moving to regional Queensland. This sends an important message that people follow jobs. However, it also indicates that the services and infrastructure to accommodate workers and their families needs to be in place to encourage people to relocate to regions and build a long-term future for their families. To help encourage industry investment and job creation in the regions, the Queensland Government is: • Developing economic development plans, such as the Cairns Economic Future Plan. • Developing regional growth and infrastructure investment strategies, such as the
Sustainable Resource Communities Policy and the Surat Basin Future Directions Statement. • Building the economic strength of regions through the Centres of Enterprise initiative, which
identifies unique strengths for six Queensland regions, and supports regional leaders develop and deliver strategies to boost their global industry competitiveness.
• Supporting business and industry investment in the regions through online access to business development tools and capacity building workshops.
• Providing financial incentives to encourage businesses to locate strategic job-creating projects in regional Queensland, through the Regional Queensland Investment Incentives Scheme.
• Delivering regional economic development projects, which raise the regional and international profile of Queensland’s regions and attract companies seeking locations for industry investment, such as the Northern Economic Triangle, the Bowen Basin, and the Galilee Basin.
• Delivering the Blueprint for the Bush, which includes a suite of measures to foster and support sustainable, liveable and prosperous rural communities in Queensland.
The Premier recognised the cost involved in relocating families to regional locations, and in November 2009 canvassed the idea of boosting the grant for home-owners outside of South East Queensland by $4000. In March 2010, the Premier announced regionalisation plans for Mackay Whitsunday and Rockhampton regions, to encourage newcomers to the area and to manage future growth. This included new funding for infrastructure as part of the $100 million Sustainable Resource Communities initiative, and investigating the potential to deliver Urban Land Development Authority projects in the Mackay and Rockhampton regions to boost affordable housing. The government is also leading decentralisation initiatives through a program to move office accommodation such as the recently announced relocation of Queensland Rail management to Ipswich.
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What will the Government do in response to regionalisation ideas? Key initiatives: 4. Develop a Queensland Regionalisation Strategy to encourage population growth and
economic development outside South East Queensland and help build stronger regions. The strategy will: • consider new initiatives to support appropriate and sustainable population growth in
Queensland’s regions • identify regions suitable for additional population growth according to economic,
liveability and sustainability criteria and in consultation with local communities • adopt principles and policy for decentralisation of government agencies and services • outline key industry and employment strategies that support sustainable regional
population growth • integrate with existing and proposed regional plans and infrastructure programs • support social capital in the regions
5. Introduce an $11,000 Regional First Home Owners Grant for building new homes to
encourage regional growth, providing a $4000 boost to the existing First Home Owners Grant
6. Decentralise government agencies in South East Queensland to Fitzgibbon and Bowen
Hills as the next step in the decentralisation agenda. This follows the government’s existing commitment to decentralise to Ipswich
7. Relocate some government functions to regional Queensland to progress the
regionalisation agenda 8. Develop a Townsville Futures Plan to support regional growth and economic development
in Townsville in partnership with Townsville City Council and other local stakeholders. This plan will aim to position Townsville as the key centre for North Queensland
Supporting actions: • Partner with the Australian Government to establish a Queensland Migration Plan, which will
comprise a bilateral agreement between the state and federal government to set skilled and business migration priorities and identify ways to better retain skilled migrants in regional areas that need their skills. This will inform the Queensland Regionalisation Strategy
• Work with the Australian Government to develop a National Population Strategy (that is then
reflected in a state policy) • Develop and include employment projects in all regional plans to support more jobs closer to
where people live as part of the preparation of regional plans across Queensland
What can community and business do? • Residents of South East Queensland could consider whether the lifestyle and job
opportunities available in the regions are suitable for them and their families • Follow the development of a National Population Strategy • Businesses could consider their opportunities for investment in the regions
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Promoting liveable and affordable communities Liveability means different things to different people. As a result, population growth is seen as an opportunity by some to improve liveability – through increased multiculturalism, creating more diverse and cohesive communities and fostering good urban design. Others see increasing population as a threat to their quality of life through congestion, decreasing housing affordability and urban sprawl. The summit reinforced the role of the planning framework, including regional planning, in managing growth to preserve those elements seen as key to quality of life. A robust, well implemented and well resourced planning and development system is seen by many as key in supporting compact communities, and thus limiting urban sprawl, promoting liveable, well designed communities and directing growth to the areas best suited. The summit heard that the increasing cost of housing and the changing composition of our population, both in terms of demographics and country of birth, will require the provision of a mix of housing, with that housing provided in well designed communities that have ready access to essential services. There are many other growth issues we need more information about assist decision making, such as land supply. The quality of Queensland’s built environment will impact on liveability, and urban design is imperative to creating thriving and vibrant local communities where people want to live work and play. The role of compact communities in protecting greenspace was acknowledged throughout the summit.
Responding to planning and development The planning and development framework, including regional planning, has an important role in managing growth, minimising its impacts and maximising the benefits. Regional plans are particularly important in managing growth as these plans guide the growth to areas best suited, enable the planning and provision of infrastructure to support growth and liveability, and protect the natural environment and environmental values. A number of ideas were raised at the summit relating to the need to better implement regional plans and improve planning and development assessment in Queensland. In particular, the need to streamline development approval processes and structure planning processes was raised.
Community ideas In relation to planning and development generally: • Increase partnership across all levels of government on new policies (Smart Growth Code,
Smart eDA, etc) and with industry on new projects (master planning communities) • Recognise and engage local government in project approval processes to ensure local
interests are adequately addressed • Pre-approve building design to fast track building/development assessment processes • Introduce less restrictive planning schemes including encouraging more home based
business; support Residential 30 principles; and facilitate innovation including alternative building solutions
• Introduce development assessment panels in all local government areas to provide clearer, faster and depoliticised development assessment processes prior to the next local government elections
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• Deliver key local planning processes such as the development and adoption of structure plans within 12 months
• Streamline code assessment processes, state agency involvement in approval processes, and drafting and enacting planning instruments and development assessment related to housing affordability
• Improve the quality of codes • Provide incentives for development to occur including performance based incentives • Require structure plans prior to development and provide greater landowner involvement in
the structure planning process • Involve state agencies only in drafting of structure and master plans, with agencies having
no referral role, unless the application is a significant departure from the plan • Remove agency silos in planning and development • Fast track sustainability initiatives through local government • Greater recognition and coordination of state planning regulations which impact on
developable land is required, particularly in key urban development areas • Create more certainty in planning • Separate, through a simple filtering process, leadership from ‘regulation’ proposals • Sub-dividing blocks of land should become an administrative process only (i.e. rather than
the focus of planning and development assessment). On infrastructure funding: • Introduce infrastructure charges paid at the time of property sale • Introduce standard infrastructure charges • Encourage greater private sector involvement. For example, co-investment • Introduce value uplift capture • Implement an ‘own the house, rent the infrastructure’ approach (benefited area levies etc) • Implement tax increment financing (many options are available) • Expand the role of the Urban Land Development Authority (ULDA) regarding value capture • Introduce alternative infrastructure funding and delivery models • Implement long term incremental infrastructure charges. In relation to regional planning: • Enhanced integration and coordination • Better link the South East Queensland Regional Plan and the SEQIPP, providing a clearer
indication of when infrastructure will be delivered • Make regional plans a one stop shop incorporating all layers of State Planning Policies
(SPPs) including SPPs previously adopted or in development • Ensure planning regulations enable development in areas where this is endorsed by
regional plans – there should be better alignment between local government planning schemes and the regional plan, with local government agreement to the areas for development
• Remove conflicts with other state legislation and policy.
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In relation to community engagement and collaboration: • Acknowledge and promote exemplar planning projects by undertaking more partnered
demonstration projects ( for example: public/private partnership/ULDA) • Collaborate, innovate, understand, review and revise, adapt, tell people about it –
communications • Stop using jargon to describe concepts such as transit oriented development and compact
communities in the regional plan and refer to these concepts in a more people-friendly way which will assist in support for the concepts. For example, connected communities
• Acknowledge and promote successes in planning, in particular inform the community more about the successes of more compact development.
In relation to enhanced governance to support implementation: • Utilise the ULDA as delivery vehicle for infill and greenfield delivery • Increase competition in the development industry • Fully utilise the capacity of the ULDA or the Coordinator-General. In relation to dwelling targets and the urban footprint: • Review regional plan expectations versus reality • Ensure development potential of the urban footprint is preserved • Revisit the South East Queensland Regional Plan, its strengths and allocation In relation to settlement patterns: • Focus development in Logan and Ipswich to take the pressure off Brisbane and the
Gold Coast • Consider planning around northern New South Wales growth and spill-over
into Queensland • Minimise the urban footprint • Focus on development that doesn’t result in loss of bushland • Ensure regional plan reviews consider any proposals for revision of the urban footprint in
terms of the environmental and social dividends • Reduce the extent of urban development – consider long-term abatement of greenfield
development • Recognise existing plans – for example, 80/20 per cent open-space balance in South East
Queensland Regional Plan and manage environmental assets within the urban 20 per cent • Direct growth to regional rail towns. In relation to growth management: • Establish a transparent and independent monitoring framework for residential land and
housing development in South East Queensland to assist state and local governments to make informed infrastructure investment decisions
• Introduce a detailed land monitoring program for South East Queensland which would provide detailed, publicly available information on the key growth areas and inform land supply objectives.
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What is the government doing already about planning and development? The Queensland Government has introduced some significant reforms to the planning and development system, aimed at reducing regulatory burden and costs, while meeting economic, social and environmental objectives, including: • Delivering the planning reform agenda which includes streamlining and simplifying the
Integrated Development Assessment System, more accessible dispute resolution, and clearer and more effective state planning instruments including standard planning scheme provisions
• Introducing the SPA as a key plank in delivering the planning reform agenda • Progressing structure planning and infrastructure planning for growth areas • Streamlining state planning instrument (SPI) development • Facilitating priority infrastructure plans for all local governments in Queensland • Implementing the COAG agenda for planning and development reform including
harmonising codes within planning schemes. Self assessable codes are encouraged to reduce development approval timeframes and focus on more complex applications
• Introducing a new approval process for housing related development in residential areas in December 2009 through the SPA. This provides that only a building development application is required in certain circumstances with referral of planning matters to local government. This will cut red tape and speed up the approval process while still preserving local considerations
• Developed Smart eDA and ePlanning contributing to reducing holding and housing costs • Established the ULDA to consolidate, plan and enable development of disparate land
holdings across the state To fund infrastructure and services, state and local governments use a range of funding mechanisms, including direct funding, Public Private Partnerships and infrastructure charging through priority infrastructure plans. The Queensland Government is rolling out statutory regional plans across the state, which identify anticipated population growth and preferred settlement patterns, allowing state and local governments to plan for infrastructure and co-locate (or ‘hub’) where possible/practical. While the South East Queensland Regional Plan has received national and international recognition and widespread support since its release in 2005, particularly due to its linkage with the SEQIPP, there has been increasing concern regarding progress in implementing a range of the plan’s policy, particularly relating to delivery of infill development within the urban footprint. The Queensland Government also has a strong commitment to delivering productivity outcomes in the planning system, through reforms such as the program to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of Queensland's planning framework and its involvement in COAG and the associated Regulatory Reform Agenda. It leads COAG reform work for the Planning and Local Government Ministers’ Council on development assessment reform and planning principles development.
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What will the Government do about planning and development? Key initiatives 9. Task the Urban Land Development Authority with responsibility for facilitating delivery of
major new satellite communities in priority greenfield areas, initially at Ripley Valley, Yarrabilba and Flagstone. A mandated percentage of all dwellings developed across these Urban Development Areas will be affordable to people on low to moderate incomes
10. Establish an Infrastructure Charges Taskforce to further reform development infrastructure
charging arrangements. This will include identifying opportunities to simplify charges and provide greater certainty, as well as provide advice on alternative trunk infrastructure funding arrangements such as third party financing
11. Streamline state planning arrangements to increase certainty and improve housing
affordability and increase land supply. This will include: • coordinating state interest check reviews more effectively in structure plan areas • effectively integrating structure planning and master planning stages for Greenfield
developments • reducing the number of state agency referral triggers for Development Applications • publishing a forward program of proposed state planning instruments • boosting the tools and training available to support Queensland’s new planning system.
Supporting actions: • Prepare annual Growth Management Program Reports to monitor land supply, track
development against dwelling targets and recommend actions to manage growth in South East Queensland
• Review the scope of the Urban Land Development Authority, including consideration of its
role in influencing land supply, fostering a competitive marketplace and potential compulsory acquisition powers
What can business and the community do? • Businesses and community can participate in consultation on draft regional plans and ULDA
development schemes for Urban Development Areas in their local area. • Get involved in planning in their local area and help inform infrastructure planning
and design • Work with government to find acceptable solutions to financing issues. Financial sector
could (in collaboration with government) hold a summit on lending practices and innovative solutions to injecting cash back into the development of infrastructure
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Responding to compact communities A compact community is a community which comprises a mix of housing, including medium and high density housing, as well as having good access to high quality public transport and services. The benefits of a compact community are multiple – compact communities reduce urban sprawl, make more efficient use of infrastructure and create vibrant communities that support walking and cycling and increased local economic development. They can create opportunities for jobs, services and shopping closer to home and reduce costs associated with long commuter trips. A number of ideas were raised relating to settlement patterns and in particular, relating to delivering more compact communities, particularly in South East Queensland.
Community ideas Delivering urban density: • Incentivise medium/high density living. For example, through the first home owners grant • Financially incentivise downscaling. For example, by empty nesters • Support retro-fitting and densification through tax incentives, more flexible planning and
dual-use housing • Introduce government financing mechanism to fund medium and high density development • Investigate loans for studio apartments – social investors • Adapt existing housing by providing tax concessions for sub-letting (owner occupiers), and
reduce transaction costs to encourage people to transition to more appropriate housing • Provide purchaser incentives (for example, first home owner grants, stamp duty concessions)
to encourage demand for infill development • Provide developers of eligible infill development with bonuses or incentives in the form of
bonds, tax credits • Provide waivers or exemptions for regulatory fees and/or charges for specified infill
development projects or for identified infill delivery areas • Provide government grants for sales below $500,000 • Provide transfer duty exemptions as an incentive to downsize • Introduce minimum density requirements around public transport and subsidise these nodes • Offer state land to development companies to support infill • Price greenfield development with infrastructure without any subsidies – send price signals
for greenfield housing • Charge for infrastructure on an area basis rather than equivalent person. This would reward
higher density and penalise lower density • Support non-strata titled institutionally provided market rental/rate housing stock • Use technology to open up the six to nine storey development market • Introduce “go” and "no-go" areas for accommodating growth clearly defined in a
collaborative manner with a commitment that State agency policy will support the “go” and "no-go" areas. Establish agreement on areas where growth will be allowed and ensure state agency policy support, with councils accommodating growth in the agreed areas
• Allow maximum dwelling densities where viable • Provide high quality precedents for housing in the 30-60 dwelling per hectare range, and
explore the attached vertical housing models that dominate older denser cities • Foster local television programs with higher density housing themes. For example,
Neighbours versus Friends, Better Homes and Gardens • Facilitate infill development by improving amalgamation processes • Facilitate infill development by implementing land, rating and other tax incentives • Influence the market towards producing more demand for compact development, there must
be greater community engagement
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• Expand the definition of no-go zones which are ecologically significant • Identify areas for density and acknowledge how living needs will change • Expedite, via state powers, development and/or building approval processes for eligible infill
development projects, potentially with a facilitator or similar body as a single point of contact for infill developers
• Streamline development assessment for infill developments by making infill in designated areas code assessable and having priority teams established in council to fast-track infill proposals
• Increase benefits of higher density living – improve public transport and make it more convenient, car parking more difficult and fuel more expensive. Rates, insurance, body corporate fees and so on are a big factor in deciding not to live in medium / high density.
Diversity in housing mix • Cater for changing demographics – need a variety of sizes of homes, places for older and
frail households near their current residences • Support more adaptable and flexible medium/high density housing relevant to location • Encourage local transition to multiple housing types/densities within local communities • Ban single storey buildings. All liveable cities have two, three, and four storey housing.
What is the government doing already about compact communities? The Queensland Government has made some significant changes to the way it delivers regional planning and urban development, to create more compact communities. Queensland’s regional plans include infill dwelling targets, establish urban footprints, set desired regional outcomes for urban development and identify key urban centres which seek to drive transit oriented development outcomes, centres policy and more compact urban form. The delivery of regional plan policies on density is being supported through new governance arrangements including: • Appointing an Assistant Coordinator General with responsibility for transit oriented
development implementation in early 2010 • Establishing a Transit Oriented Development Coordination Unit in 2007 to support policy
development and delivery of more compact communities including by coordinating the state’s involvement in development assessment associated with major development applications for transit oriented development projects
• Establishing a Transit Oriented Development Taskforce between 2006 and 2009 to support policy development and delivery of more compact communities.
The government is providing and promoting guidance and legislation to support compact development, including: • Promoting the ULDA’s recently released Residential 30 guidelines documenting how quality
residential communities up to 30 dwellings per hectare (considered to be compact development) can be produced
• Developing a Smart Growth Code (under way) to support delivery of smart growth principles for compact communities in South East Queensland
• Amending the Transport Planning and Coordination Act 1994 to significantly enhance government’s ability to deliver transit oriented development outcomes when delivering new public transport infrastructure.
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The state is also working in partnership with local governments and the ULDA to deliver consolidated urban development, including: • Declaring Urban Development Areas, through the ULDA, at Bowen Hills, Fitzgibbon Chase,
Northshore Hamilton and, most recently, declaring a 10 hectare parcel at Woolloongabba. These Urban Development Areas are being designed and developed incorporating best practice compact communities principles. The Urban Development Area at Woolloongabba will be located close to the proposed Woolloongabba rail station, announced as part of the cross river rail project
• Working in partnership with the Brisbane City Council to deliver the River City Blueprint which aims to consolidate the inner 5km ring around the Brisbane CBD based on principles of liveability, connectivity and best practice urban design
• Supporting local governments in delivery of key priority activity centre master planning projects through funding and in-kind support (Chermside, Caboolture)
• Supporting local governments in delivery of key transit corridor master planning projects through funding and in-kind support (Eastern and Northern Busways, Gold Coast Rapid Transit route, extension of the Gold Coast Rail Corridor to Varsity)
• Partnering with Brisbane City Council to deliver the Yeerongpilly Transit Oriented Development as an example of the sort of high quality compact community that can achieved in key locations throughout South East Queensland.
What will the Government do about compact communities? Key initiatives: 12. Partner with South East Queensland local governments to implement greater planning
certainty for local communities, including through the development of “Go Zones and No-Go Zones”. This will commence with the release a Go and No-Go Zone Discussion Paper for community consultation by July 2010.
Supporting actions: • Release Transit Oriented Development Guidelines that identify best practice in delivery of
compact communities by September 2010, supported by training and workshops to build capacity around transit oriented development delivery
• Seek expressions of interest from the private sector to develop a landmark transit oriented
precinct focussed on Coorparoo Junction in partnership with Brisbane City Council (following expiry of the current leases).
What can community and business do? • New and relocating businesses could consider locating in mixed use activity centres with
existing or planned access to high frequency public transport services • Residents establishing or relocating could consider buying homes in mixed use compact
developments, particularly those developments which have access to high frequency public transport services.
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Responding to building liveable communities One of the challenges presented by population growth is ensuring our communities are cohesive and inclusive. Social capital is supported by bringing together a broad mix of people, and providing networks to support the disadvantaged, including those from non-English speaking backgrounds, the aged, and people with a disability. Strong communities value multicultural diversity, interaction and respect. Affordable housing was a recurrent theme in contributing to liveability. A greater mix of housing, including medium and high density, as well as housing with smaller footprints and housing which could be adapted throughout its life were consistently proposed. Other key ideas included reducing the construction costs of dwellings through both accelerated planning and development timeframes and the use of prefabricated housing components.
Community ideas In relation to strong communities: • Fund programs that encourage social connectedness • Promote social glue via land-use diversity and activities in the public realm. For example,
street parties, festivals • Reduce red tape that is a barrier to community activities. For example, indemnity insurance
levels for community run-events • Reinforce good core societal values. For example, respect for neighbours and
neighbourhoods • Create community hubs • Reinvigorate neighbourhood watch • Provide dual purpose social infrastructure • Embrace preventative health programs • Provide new solutions for people on the edge • Create opportunities for people to mix together • Empower local governments to develop their own local solutions • Build on existing community identity to link old to new • Close the gap for indigenous people • Involve the community in decisions • Focus planning for communities or precincts on designing and developing the community • Design for green communities – including community gardens, shade giving street trees,
screen planting, carbon planting, food planting and shared gardens • Create central meeting points – gardens, bloke’s shed. In relation to housing: • Ensure affordable housing is integrated into development by setting targets (10 per cent) • Provide more certainty regarding body corporate fees • Utilise National Rental Affordability Schemes opportunities • Convert detached dwellings to dual key and/or multi-unit dwellings • Levy new developments to fund affordable/social housing • Remove income/regulation impediments to rental/sharing of housing. For example, the need
to declare income from rental room • Require local planning schemes to support delivery of various price points • Encourage renters into high/medium density and offer long term contracts • Use first home owners grant to incentivise higher density living • Reduce constructing costs of medium and high density dwellings
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• Consider whole of life cost of residence (heating, cooking, cooling, transport) • Utilise disused government-owned land – offer to private developers or not-for-profit
organisations such as the Brisbane Housing Company who could master plan for mixed-use development
• Consider future use of older social housing where households have only one or two residents. These residents could be relocated to new community housing that suits their needs and the vacated houses could be refurbished or redeveloped
• Utilise well designed pre-fabricated housing to reduce dwelling costs • Support provision of tenure options for affordable housing occupiers to purchase or lease • Build adaptable housing products that can suit a homeowner throughout their life • Support finance for smaller housing products (for example, 25m2 product by the Brisbane
Housing Company) • Amend planning and building codes to support cheaper urban development • Engage financial sector to encourage alternate lending. For example, Generation Y, friends
buying property together • Support delivery of low rent options in high density developments but ensure they do not
dominate in any one location • Encourage building design that facilitates better energy use to support lower living costs.
What is the government doing already about building liveable communities? The Queensland Government has introduced and is implementing a number of policies to make Queensland’s communities amongst the most liveable in the world. In relation to strong communities: • released its second Closing the Gap report. The report has information on the gap in life
outcomes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Queenslanders. It also details the Queensland Government's strategies for closing the gap.
• established the Reduce Social Isolation of Older People Program in 2003 to identify and develop innovative responses to reduce the social isolation of seniors. A number of reports from various stages of the project have been published. The project also developed best practice guidelines to assist service providers, government agencies and community groups in designing and implementing projects to reduce social isolation of seniors.
• established a Q2 target aimed at increasing the proportion of Queenslanders involved in their communities as volunteers by 50 per cent.
• implemented a Queensland Multicultural Policy to guide efforts to maximise the benefits Queensland’s cultural diversity offers. The policy fosters economic development and participation by supporting skilled migrants, people with multilingual skills and people with overseas connections and by nurturing cultural capital. This includes promoting social justice and equity for disadvantaged non-English speaking communities, women and young people of culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and newly arrived refugees and migrants.
• developing Positively Ageless – developing a Queensland Seniors’ Strategy which includes an action plan aimed at making positive changes for seniors who are vulnerable, disadvantaged or socially isolated.
• investigating the feasibility of providing wi-fi at railway stations and public spaces.
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In relation to housing: • ensuring that developments in key locations, such as the Yeerongpilly Transit Oriented
Development, provide a significant proportion of all dwellings as affordable product • banned new and existing covenants and by-laws which require the completion of
landscaping and driveways prior to dwelling occupation, through Ban the Banners from 1 January 2010. This will positively contribute to housing affordability
• delivering projects such as the ULDA’s Fitzgibbon Chase, which is providing in excess of 66 per cent of its housing below the median house price in Brisbane. Other regional Urban Development Areas declared will have affordable housing targets specified at the time of declaration
• promoting the ULDA’s Residential 30 guideline to local authorities so that more diverse and affordable housing can be produced by private industry outside Urban Development Areas
• continuing implementation of the ULDA Regional Diversity program that will deliver projects in regional areas to demonstrate to councils, the industry and community the positive impact on housing affordability that can come from diversity of product
• working with councils through the ULDA to explore opportunities for amendments to planning schemes that allow for increased housing diversity to be developed by private industry
• held a Housing Affordability Forum in March 2010, hosted by Minister Karen Struthers, to investigate innovative solutions to housing affordability issues.
• delivering around 4000 new social housing properties by June 2012 in collaboration with the federal government as part of the National Building and Jobs Plan – Social Housing Initiative
• delivering an estimated 10,000 new affordable housing dwellings in Queensland by June 2012 through the National Rental Affordability Scheme which is jointly funded by Queensland and federal governments. These properties will be available at a discount to market rent (i.e. 80 per cent of market rent)
• identifying opportunities for further housing supply and affordability reform and ensuring implementation of reforms to improve capital city strategic planning, development approvals and utilise the recently completed government land audits, through a COAG agenda led by state Treasurers
• meeting with other Planning and Housing Ministers to discuss the opportunities within the planning system to tackle some of the systemic issues affecting housing affordability. The next steps in this process are the development of a detailed action plan on national and jurisdictional responses and an issues paper that can contribute to the COAG Housing Supply and Affordability agenda.
What will the Government do about building liveable communities? Key initiatives: 13. Investigate new ways to deliver affordable housing options which support people on lower
to middle incomes, including • reviewing options to incorporate affordable housing in new developments • piloting a social housing renewal project at Coopers Plains, working with the Brisbane
City Council to masterplan a new future for an area of aged social housing stock
What can community and business do? • Queenslanders can become more involved in their communities by registering as volunteers
in a range of different fields • Community members can participate in the consultation process for the Greenspace Strategy
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Responding to urban design As populations become increasingly urbanised, there is renewed emphasis on the importance of urban design in the development and renewal of cities, towns and places. Good urban design reinforces the special character of neighbourhoods and helps to build thriving, vibrant and inclusive local communities. Urban design encompasses design not just of individual buildings, but the spaces between the buildings, movement networks between buildings and places, landscaping, infrastructure and public spaces. High quality urban design is critical to the quality of life of Queenslanders both at home and at work and helps to build healthy, inclusive and connected communities.
Community ideas Design generally: • Ensure urban design impacts on our shared vision • Strengthen the ‘Queensland Design Strategy 2020’ to promote urban design outcomes
more broadly • Design for the built community using all the desired characters of diversity, supporting
infrastructure, environmental quality and innovation • Ensure development demonstrates broader public benefit • Define urban design – it is not just about landscape or aesthetics • Value urban design – urban design is the discipline to link built/social/spatial environments,
but it is not valued enough • Provide for developer controls that stipulate quality residential building design and
construction particularly for higher density living higher density living • Promote housing design competitions and build innovative demonstration prototypes of
house types that could hopefully form the fabric of our growing cities. Design for neighbourhoods • Provide for climate specific urban design including promoting subtropical design (cross-
ventilation, trees, weather protection) • Consider tropical and sub-tropical design features, as well as better solar orientation, in
planning for precincts or communities to increase energy efficiency and liveability of communities
• Design paths and bikeways for all communities, realigning and widening streets • Lower speeds for local urban roads to 30 kilometres per hour • Provide social and living spaces for social interactions and sense of community • Ensure neighbourhoods are very walkable via shade, amenity, sense of place, intrigue • Remove/review front fences to achieve neighbourhood outcomes – enable passive
surveillance and quality of place • Make neighbourhoods safe, passive surveillance, good lighting, communal areas • Provide better linkages across communities – can see and walk in neighbourhood • Design the community, not the subdivision when master planning • Facilitate place making through urban design – turn a location into a community place • Focus on different people who make up diverse and culturally rich communities when
designing communities – background, age and aging, economic, disabilities • Design communities – not just buildings – science based/ecological, social planning
considerations, mandate social infrastructure planning, shared community facilities • Give due consideration to the holistic design of neighbourhoods, precincts and public spaces.
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Infrastructure design • Don’t divide communities by road or rail • Retrofit shade corridors and safe paths to existing infrastructure • Ensure urban design leads infrastructure design – infrastructure is not being designed with
same care as for buildings and spaces but it is arguably more critical to the quality of our environment, we need to depart from many traditional delivery systems
• Lightly touch the landscape that infrastructure interrupts. Design for density: • Deliver high levels of amenity in designing for higher densities – make it better, smarter,
more innovative • Design density to focus on quality of public spaces between buildings – streets, open
space etc • Provide for more ground floor facilities for social interaction • Encourage built form typologies which capitalise upon cottage building skills. For example,
dual occupancy townhouses • Deliver diversity of design – make sure design caters for different situations – for living in
high density. For example, smaller units, but larger shared spaces • Design to accommodate different family structures – including children and pets • Diversify the urban mix – match to life stages – provide multiple housing types and densities
within local communities – encourage local transition • Retain an intergenerational mix via building diversity • Include more ‘town centres’ in greenfield locations so density can be increased in
these locations • Mandate an acceptable level of privacy through planning • Ensure larger medium to high density development has a relationship with existing
community (i.e. not gated) – must complement surrounding area • Improve retail environment around density • Make places that Queenslanders can value. The urban footprint and transit oriented
development will only be successful and acceptable to the community if this is achieved • Reflect the importance of the spaces between the buildings and the public realm when
designing for situations where we live closer to one another • Ensure adequate insulation in closer living situations to minimise noise pollution • Provide for adequate off-street parking for visitors, tradies etc. Most houses have two cars
and with smaller lots and single car garages; one of these vehicles inevitably ends up parked on the street.
Capacity in design professions • Increase professional capacity in local government to advise on urban design • Provide greater support to the Board for Urban Places – ensure the Board sets standards
for all public infrastructure • Better promote knowledge of the Board’s activities • Deliver an Urban Design Charter for Queensland through the Board for Urban Places • Ensure good urban design in regions as well as cities – transport and connectivity • Build private and public sector expertise to make good urban design happen – this is critical
for accommodating growth • Leveraging the Queensland Design Strategy 2020 to help educate schools and the
community about good quality urban design • Change the education system for urban design to ensure it deals with functional
sustainability issues not just aesthetics.
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Leadership in design • Plan to enable for world’s best practice urban design to occur in Queensland • Promote examples of good design in Queensland • Allow innovation through the planning framework to support sustainable urban design • Prioritise urban design over 2-D planning – show people what is really being proposed and
what is flexible so they can make informed consideration • Educate community on good urban design – use example development (leaders), help
community understand that no isn’t actually a choice regarding density; economic development (strategic) is dependent on good design – provide guidelines and examples
• Provide 'seed' funding opportunities for businesses to develop models that respond to the higher density market. High rise buildings need to be designed so that they contribute to urban life and amenity. They should have a sculptural quality
• Invest in urban renewal/heart. For example, Bulimba (Safe Communities Incentive Program) • Support urban design competitions for best practice including the regions • Run a "City Vision 2050+” city design competition following the Summit to continue to
engage the community about holistic design • Lead community change in attitude by showcasing benefits of medium to high density living.
For example, demonstration projects, awards for projects and precincts, incentives for local governments to plan
• Showcase the successes and exemplar design, sustainable and community-based projects.
What is the government doing already about urban design? The Queensland Government has introduced a range of initiatives to create well designed urban areas throughout Queensland. A full-time Government Architect was appointed in 2008 to build government’s capacity to show leadership in delivery of high quality urban design outcomes. The Government Architect has been working closely with State agencies to build capacity in staff and ensure State buildings and infrastructure projects demonstrate world’s best practice. The Board for Urban Places was established in 2009 which provides general and project-specific advice on urban design, planning, architecture, landscape architecture, sustainability and built environment issues. The Board champions high quality urban design and helps foster a holistic approach to land use and infrastructure planning to create vibrant and adaptable urban places for people in Queensland. It is an independent non-statutory body with a state wide remit. In 2009, the government launched the Queensland Design Strategy 2020, dedicated to promoting the value of design and inspiring its take up by Queensland businesses, the community, and the public sector. The Strategy will support and guide the growth of the design sector nationally and internationally through a series of classroom, boardroom and community initiatives, high-profile events, international exchanges and the mainstreaming of good design into government departments. The government partnered with Brisbane City Council and the Queensland Institute of Technology to support the Centre for Subtropical Design since 2006. Government worked with the Centre for Subtropical Design to develop Subtropical Design Guidelines for Planners and Developers, released in early 2010.
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The government has also introduced policies and guidelines to ensure good urban design practice occurs throughout the planning and development of urban areas, including: • incorporating principles in regional plans to support delivery of high quality urban design
outcomes particularly in growth areas • releasing Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) Guidelines to promote
the incorporation of CPTED principles into the planning, design and management of development in Queensland. CPTED is a proven crime prevention approach which has been shown to reduce opportunities for crime and incivility. The fundamental idea of CPTED is that it is possible to use knowledge and creativity to design environments in ways that lessen or prevent the incidence of crime
• co-funding revision of the Institute of Public Works Engineering Australia’s Queensland Streets guideline to produce a contemporary street design guideline for sustainable neighbourhoods.
Other urban design initiatives include: • Commissioning Gehl Architects, international urban planning specialists from Copenhagen,
to prepare a high-level connectivity and public domain strategy to inform the River City Blueprint. The project involved a detailed investigation of public realm quality, pedestrian and cycling linkages and the utility of the pedestrian, cycling and public transport network
• Initiating HEAT, an international marketing initiative with the objective of highlighting the creative talent of Queensland’s architectural and related design industries and to facilitate the export of this talent to the world.
The Queensland Government’s art+place public art fund, launched in 2007, devotes $12 million to new public art projects in Queensland from 2008. A curatorial panel of experts advises government on the expenditure of the fund. art+ place can be accessed by Queensland Government departments and agencies as well as providing assistance for public art projects to Queensland local governments, not-for-profit arts and cultural organisations, arts and cultural festivals and private developers. The most recent round of funding provided $1.338M for 12 projects across Queensland.
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What will the Government do about urban design? Key initiatives; 14. Design an athlete’s ecoVillage as part of Queensland’s 2018 Commonwealth Games bid,
suitable for post-Games reuse as a vibrant transit oriented community on the Gold Coast Supporting actions: • Initiate a program of leadership in urban design including:
• incorporating urban design as a critical component of the recently announced Queensland Design Triennial to be held in Brisbane 4-10 October, 2010
• requiring key infrastructure procuring departments to appoint appropriately qualified urban design champions, who will work with the Board for Urban Places to champion well-designed buildings, public places and infrastructure
• using Queensland’s 2018 Commonwealth Games bid to focus international attention on Queensland’s emerging reputation as a design leader, and ensure Games infrastructure exhibits design excellence
• Build urban design capacity in Queensland including:
• developing training and capacity building programs to increase urban design capacity across State and local government, with industry and the community
• developing a Guideline for Government Buildings, Precincts and Infrastructure which all agencies must comply with
• investigate widening the scope, strengthening the powers and increasing the resourcing of the Board for Urban Places
• having the Board for Urban Places prepare a Queensland Infrastructure Design Strategy including a review of how current procurement practices could be enhanced to support optimum urban design outcomes
What can community and business do? • Businesses could consider the value and benefits of urban design when planning and
developing new buildings and infrastructure • Businesses and developers could consider referring to the design guidelines and material
produced by the government in their next project
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Responding to sustainable urban development Sustainable urban development encompasses more sustainable, or ecologically responsible, dwellings and developments. This includes a more sustainable built form (for example, higher star ratings for houses and units, better solar orientation) and better planned and designed development which encourages lower carbon footprints and more active transport.
Community ideas • Reward, encourage or mandate sustainable urban design elements through building codes • Retrofit existing dwellings to improve sustainability • Consider the aspect of the block in terms of solar orientation, design for natural ventilation
and sound proofing. New multi-unit buildings should be highly energy efficient, incorporate permaculture and be environmentally friendly
• Extend 6-star green ratings to whole of community or whole of precinct levels – elevating sustainable design requirements to a level higher than individual dwellings
• Introduce state wide mandatory ecologically sustainable development strategies underpinning all new growth precincts whether greenfield or urban
• Provide better pre-development knowledge to inform developers of what is required to properly conserve natural systems
• Truly integrate environmental, economic and social considerations into design and development – do it and learn!
• All new high rises should have solar panels • Master planned communities with high rise need to integrate sustainability modelling into the
operation of the sites and consider the sustainability of ecosystems and the provision of water sensitive urban designs, energy efficient systems and the source separation of waste
• Orient buildings to maximise natural energy cycles and ventilation, which assists in containing energy costs and helps meet six star energy ratings
• Promote active re-use and adaptive technologies for new building materials i.e. secondary resources rather than primary resources such as timber and new extractive resources.
79.5 per cent of summit participants believed population growth presents an opportunity to transform our urban areas to become more sustainable.
What is the government doing already about sustainable urban development? The Queensland Government has made some significant progress towards improving the environmental sustainability of urban development..
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The environmental standards for new development in Queensland are leading other Australian states and territories. All new houses, townhouses and major renovations in Queensland are now required to: • meet 5 star energy efficiency requirements introduced on 1 March 2009 • meet 6 star energy efficiency requirements from 1 May 2010 • use an alternative hot water system to electric (i.e. gas, solar or heat pump) from
1 January 2010 • have a rainwater tank, a greenhouse efficient hot water system, install water efficient
devices (i.e. toilets, taps and shower heads) and ensure 80 per cent of lighting is energy efficient.
All new commercial and multi-unit dwellings in Queensland are now required to: • meet 5 star energy efficiency requirements introduced on 1 March 2010 • install either a rainwater tank, water storage tank, common tank or greywater treatment
system if connected to reticulated town water supply • introduce electricity sub-metering • have a rainwater tank, install water efficient devices (i.e. toilets, taps and shower heads) and
ensure 80 per cent of lighting is energy efficient • provide end of trip facilities in all new major developments around key activity centres and
all new commercial buildings greater than 2,000m2 by the end of 2010.
As well, the government has introduced: • a ban on the sale and installation of inefficient air-conditioners • a sustainability declaration to increase awareness of sustainability elements in existing
dwellings (houses, townhouse or units) when they are advertised or marketed for sale • a ban on restrictive covenants and body corporate provisions that prevent the use of energy
efficient fixtures or features and require specific design requirements which would also impact on energy efficiency
• the Green Door development assessment process, designed to provide faster development assessment for developments which demonstrate cutting edge ecological sustainability
• The ClimateSmart Home Service – a two year program to deliver improved water and energy efficiency in 260,000 households across Queensland.
To inspire leadership and motivate new innovations in sustainable urban design, the government has also: • Led by example by delivering a 6 star rated government building at Zillmere, Fitzgibbon
Chase, demonstrating sustainable neighbourhood planning principles • Declared, through the ULDA, Urban Development Areas at Bowen Hills, Fitzgibbon Chase
and Northshore Hamilton which will provide examples of best practice in sustainable urban developments
• Producing guidelines to help planners manage the impacts (including visual, air quality and noise impacts) of generating low emission energy close to where people live and work through the Facilitating low emission energy generation in commercial buildings project
• Sponsored the Australian Green Infrastructure Council to develop a green star rating system for infrastructure similar to the green star rating for buildings.
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What will the Government do about sustainable urban development? Key initiative: 15. Support sustainable urban development through leadership including:
• ensuring government developments are exemplars of sustainable urban design. Pilot Yeerongpilly Transit Oriented Development as a demonstration of best practice in sustainable urban development
• continuing to support the Centre for Subtropical Design for a further three years to enable the Centre to extend its research into the design and delivery of climate responsive development in Queensland. As part of government’s in-kind contribution to the Centre’s activities an experienced planner will be assigned to work with and support the Centre
• piloting a green roof or wall project in association with a major government infrastructure or development project
• piloting CitySwitch Green Office, a national tenant energy efficiency program, in a Queensland Government building
• delivering projects demonstrating best practice in sustainable urban design in the regions
What can community and business do? • Community members and businesses could choose energy and water efficient products
when renovating their homes and businesses • Businesses could become green partners under government’s Toward Q2:
Tomorrow’s Queensland
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Delivering infrastructure Providing adequate and the right mix of infrastructure and services, with appropriate funding mechanisms, is seen as key to achieving the government’s compact urban form policies (transit oriented development and increased densities) as well as maintaining and improving liveability and sustainability. Infrastructure and services should inform and be informed by the Queensland Regionalisation Strategy and should lead and manage population and economic growth, rather than respond to it.
Community ideas On the types of infrastructure and services required: • Realign SEQIPP to facilitate development outcomes, including affordable housing, and
providing green or environmental infrastructure • Ensure social infrastructure and services provision is equal with physical infrastructure
provision • Provide better schools and hospitals closer to where people live • Create ‘infrastructure hubs’ • All levels of government to work together on planning and infrastructure provision in
Queensland, using advice from community and industry leaders. There was a suggestion for the federal government should increase its funding of mitigation measures and appropriate infrastructure since it controls the levers that create the growth.
In relation to dwelling targets and the urban footprint • Remove the mandatory population/dwelling targets in the South East Queensland Regional
Plan and treat them as projections allowing councils and their communities to determine the capacity of the region/city based on opportunities and constraints
• Review planning schemes to accommodate population forecasts in low, medium and high-density areas.
• Reduce dwelling targets in South East Queensland Regional Plan and thereby force people to move elsewhere
• Re-evaluate the split between infill and greenfield development in regional plans to achieve a balance based on consumer preferences, community needs and aspirations, and construction economics, and focus on facilitating development in the urban footprint
• Locate development appropriately and review/reinforce the urban footprint • Set targets for sustainability objectives and identify the cost of not achieving them. For
example, Target 140 for water consumption. In market research conducted prior to the summit, 51 per cent of respondents expressed concern that population growth would negatively impact on infrastructure and services. However, 79.5 per cent of summit participants were hopeful or believed that increased population could improve access to infrastructure and services.
What is the government doing already about delivering infrastructure? The Queensland Government is undertaking the most ambitious infrastructure program since Federation with more than $100 billion to plan and deliver infrastructure projects. The government’s infrastructure spend in 2009-10 is estimated at $18.2 billion. This equates to $2083 for each Queenslander – more than every other state and territory in the country. It is 65 per cent more than the average of other states, which sits at $1265 per capita, and 20 per cent above next placed Western Australia, which is spending $1732 per head. And this is not a recent trend. The Queensland Government spend per capita over the past 10 years has averaged $1021 per person, while the average of the other states has been $582 per person.
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However, the Queensland Government has indicated that by 2013-14, its capital program will reduce to less than $10 billion per year to ensure the state’s debt to revenue ratio remains comparable to other larger states.
What will the Government do in response to delivering infrastructure? Key initiatives: 16. Introduce a Queensland Infrastructure Plan (QIP) that clearly links infrastructure delivery with
population growth and economic development priorities. From 2011-12, QIP will integrate existing state infrastructure planning documents such as the South East Queensland Infrastructure Plan and Program and the Roads Implementation Program (RIP)
17. Work in partnership with local government to confirm the distribution of dwelling targets
within South East Queensland through the development of a QIP. This will help strengthen the link between infrastructure investment and accommodating dwelling targets within the existing urban footprint and investigation areas in the South East Queensland Regional Plan
Supporting actions: • Work more closely with local governments in sequencing of infrastructure projects to take
account of significant local infrastructure investment • Investigate options (such as tolling policies) to fund infrastructure in Greenfield sites that are
isolated and therefore rely on extremely high levels of state investment • Examine alternative mechanisms for the financing of state infrastructure
What can community and business do? • Businesses and communities can consider the level of infrastructure provided in an area
prior to relocating their premise or residence
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Protecting our lifestyle and environment Queensland’s biodiversity is unique, with almost half the species found in Queensland existing nowhere else in the world. Our biodiversity supports food and medicine production, as well as industrial products. It has an important role in maintaining and regulating our natural environment and contributes to cultural identity and emotional well being. In recognising that the sustainability of Queensland’s environment is paramount in supporting our lifestyle and quality of life, the impact of our urban environments and consumption and waste generation were noted to have significant impacts. Prior to the summit, the government undertook market research on attitudes towards population growth and liveability. This research highlighted that our clean, pollution free air and flora and fauna are vitally important and that Queenslanders want these safeguarded in managing growth. These environmental values, and others including Queensland’s rich biodiversity, water and waterways, and agricultural and rural land, were recognised and reinforced at the summit as being essential to Queenslander’s quality of life. It’s not just our biodiversity which contributes to food production – agricultural land is vitally important. The need to preserve agricultural land and become more self sufficient in terms of food production was raised repeatedly throughout consultation. Current urban development and consumption patterns place pressure on both our biodiversity and food producing capability. There is a need to make our urban developments more sustainable – to become households and neighbourhoods with low energy and water consumption and are better designed for our tropical and sub-tropical climate. There are many gaps in our knowledge about the condition of waterways, air, land and biodiversity in Queensland. For example, only about 25 per cent of Australia’s species have been formally described1. As well, our economic markets fail to value the benefits of biodiversity adequately. Information about environmental conditions, trends and pressures is crucial for ensuring our environment is valued, and for understanding how to protect and manage the environment from population threats. Not only do we need to establish an evidence base for informing decision making, we also need to regularly monitor this data to ensure we understand how well our decisions are achieving outcomes. Greenspace is defined in the Queensland Government Greenspace Strategy as those places where people play, recreate and socialise. It includes council parks, public gardens, playing fields, children’s play areas, foreshore areas, bushland and linear reserves, national parks, state forests and conservation reserves. Participants and respondents expressed a desire for increased greenspace both within and outside the urban footprint. Greenspace was recognised as essential in new developments and particularly compact communities characterised by medium to high density development.
1 Commonwealth Government (2010) Australia’s Biodiversity Conservation Strategy 2010–2020: Consultation draft
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This move to more sustainable living needs to be coupled with a decrease in consumption and waste generation – both of which place pressure on our natural environment. Queensland currently has some of the highest per capita greenhouse gas emission levels in the world along with some of the lowest rates of recycling in Australia. However, Queenslanders have comprehensively demonstrated their ability to change their consumption behaviours – the recent drought and resulting dramatic reduction in household water consumption is an excellent example.
Responding to protecting our lifestyle and environment Biodiversity is the variety of all life forms on earth – the different plants, animals and micro-organisms; their genes; and the terrestrial, marine and freshwater ecosystems of which they are a part.2 It is vital to maintain and enhance Queensland’s unique biodiversity as Queensland continues to grow because biodiversity contributes to the healthy environments, clean air and water that support human life. A growing population means our biodiversity, including our waterways, air sheds and fauna and flora, needs to be protected and restored. This means that our growing population’s demand for residential and industrial development as well as the use of other environmental resources, needs to minimise and mitigate impacts on our biodiversity. Opportunities to protect and enhance ecosystems and ecosystem health need to be identified and implemented.
Community ideas • Reduce waste run off in waterways and protect waterway health, both urban and rural • Reduce or stop the use of sprays on vegetation leading to downstream degradation • Clean up industry impact on waterways • Invest in waterway health • Partner with industry to create flagship projects that demonstrate sustainable design and
development to the community • Develop and redevelop away from ecologically valuable and vulnerable areas
and corridors • Consider cumulative impacts of development. For example, flooding • Preserve nature and its systems by minimising impact, i.e. touch less of it • Better manage climate hazards and create ecosystem resilience • Map ecosystem networks for preservation and rehabilitation projects • Afford greater protection, value and legibility to ecosystem services • Fund environmental protection more adequately • Borrow to fund environmental assets to improve intergenerational equity • Buy back ecosystems for conservation to build resilience and enhance connectivity • Identify large scale areas of high conservation value, preserve these ecosystems and
ensure that these corridors are well connected • Enhance the habitat of the South East Queensland Regional Plan green corridors and
provide incentives to landholders • Protect wildlife and important species like the koala • Maintain adequate urban forest cover and adequate soil area in cities • Invest in restoration activities. For example, provision of funds for natural assets, including
the declaration of parks and national parks
2 http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/strategy/draft-strategy.html
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• Establish an environmental offsets bank, which would facilitate proactive compensation for environmental losses caused by development. The offsets bank would accredit a list of projects to which developers, contractors and government can invest in to acquit the environmental impacts of their projects or operations which result in a net gain to the community
• Direct any increases in the state’s Gross Domestic Product to environmental outcomes (using a stronger triple bottom line approach)
• Harness carbon offsetting and vegetation offset policies to fund ecosystem rehabilitation. In relation to environmental knowledge: • Develop regulations that define criteria to ensure that the environmental baseline is clear
and understood and can be monitored to establish limits/capacity/impacts. These could be used to ensure any developments balance human activity with the environment
• Understand that clear and extensive scientific based knowledge is required to establish current environmental stresses and appropriate levers
• Utilise real time information and regular reporting • Review performance review using sustainability indicators • Recognise that regional sustainability indicators are going backwards. In relation to greenspace: • Use the RNA showgrounds as public open space • Increase the connectivity between greenspace, including through the use of trails • Create greenspace within existing urban communities (including medium and high density
communities) through creating urban forests and establishing community gardens • Ensure greenspace provides recreational opportunities, as well as amenity and
conservation functions • Accommodate active recreation opportunities in greenspace, such as trail bike parks, four
wheel drive parks and active parks for youth (for example, skateboard parks) • Provide diverse greenspace options, including parks, national parks, trails, conservation
areas and wildlife corridors.
What is the government doing already to protect our lifestyle and environment? The Queensland Government has introduced policy and legislation which helps conserve biodiversity and prevent further large-scale losses, such as the Nature Conservation Act 1992, Coastal Protection and Management Act 1995, Vegetation Management Act 1999, Marine Parks Act 2004, and statutory regional plans. Statutory regional plans and progressively more stringent environmental planning and development requirements over recent decades, including the identification of essential habitat, are attempting to minimise the impacts of population growth on biodiversity. The State Coastal Management Plan (currently being updated) provides policy on how the coastal zone is to be managed which is particularly important as this is where the majority of population growth is occurring. Regional plans provide more regional context and aim to balance development with conservation. SPPs also provide further checks when making decisions about development and its impact on biodiversity. Within the planning framework the government has introduced the Koala Response Strategy to protect South East Queensland’s koalas. The priority is to secure habitat corridors and restore cleared habitat, with a focus in the Pine Rivers and Koala Coast areas.
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The government also continues to build on an excellent reserve system and has committed to protecting 50 per cent more land for nature conservation and public recreation by 2020 under Q2. As at 30 December 2009, 8.06 million hectares of land was protected in national park estate. Biodiversity protection will be enhanced with the development of the Queensland Biodiversity Strategy – a 2009 election commitment. The government has a strong involvement in the SEQ Healthy Waterways Partnership which is improving the health of the catchments and rivers of South East Queensland and promoting awareness of the state of the region’s waterways. Introduction of an Environmental Offsets Policy is helping to preserve Queensland's environmental values for future generations by ensuring that economic and social development can occur without an overall degradation of our environment. In conjunction with the Environmental Offsets Policy, there are also specific offset policies which include: • Vegetation Management – Policy for Vegetation Management Offsets • Marine Fish Habitat – Mitigation and Compensation for Works or Activities Causing Marine
Fish Habitat Loss • Koala Habitat – Offsets for Net Benefit to Koalas and Koala Habitat.
Offsets policies are also currently under development to address impacts on waste water quality and biodiversity.
The Queensland Government has established the Ecofund initiative to help with investment in protecting our natural assets and expanding protected areas in Queensland. Ecofund provides services to its clients to meet regulatory environmental offset requirements and to purchase carbon offsets. Other programs in place to help protect biodiversity include: • Actively managing the biodiversity in the terrestrial and marine park estate • Undertaking recovery programs for individual threatened species and groups of species
such as the Greater Bilby, Bridle Nail-tail Wallaby and the Green Turtle • Implementing bio-security actions to manage invasive pest species • Securing over 1.7 million ha (1 per cent of Queensland’s land area) of conservation land
under Nature Refuge Agreements • Improvements to the biodiversity condition of state grazing leasehold land under the
Delbessie Agreement. In relation to environmental knowledge: • The State of the Environment report every four years. The reports describe the pressures
acting on the state's air, land, inland and coastal waters, biodiversity, and natural and cultural heritage; the state or condition of the environment; the responses by society to reduce pressures and protect and conserve the state's natural and cultural heritage; and the effectiveness and efficiency of these responses in achieving ecologically sustainable development.
• The State of the Region Report for South East Queensland to monitor and assess progress towards sustainability. Sustainability indicators are used to describe what aspects of the region are changing and in what direction. Indicators are set to reflect the desired regional outcomes of the plan.
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• The South East Queensland Natural Resource Management Plan (2009-2031) to set measurable targets for the condition and extent of environment and natural resources aligned to the desired regional outcomes and policies contained in the regional plan.
• Target 200 to continue the success of ‘Target 140’ during the period of drought experienced in South East Queensland. ‘Target 200’ sets a continuing household consumption target of 200 litres of water per person a day. Such targets illustrate that we can consume less vital natural resources through successful demand management programs that are closely monitored.
• Other schemes to monitor air quality, storm tide, water quality, ecosystem health of waterways, storm surge, water stream-flow, vegetation, land use and wetlands.
In relation to greenspace: • Established a state wide Q2 target to protect 50 per cent more land for nature conservation
and public recreation by 2020 • Released the Draft Greenspace Strategy for public consultation until 7 May 2010. The
strategy is a key Q2 implementation mechanism and includes activities based around five key actions which seek to promote additional greenspace, introduce better planning processes, remove arbitrary barriers that limit public access to state owned land, encourage recreation opportunities on private land, and investigate the potential to use surplus state owned land as greenspace
• Exploring, through the Greenspace Strategy, using the planning framework to mandate levels of greenspace provision in new developments
• Provided major urban parks and greenspace facilities including the $68.6 million Roma Street Parkland, $11.6 million Kangaroo Point Park, and commitment to establish a major parkland at Springfield in the growing western corridor of South East Queensland, which will be 20 per cent bigger than Brisbane's Roma Street Parkland
• Declared two new urban parks at Fitzgibbon and Indooroopilly in March 2010.
What will the Government do to protect our lifestyle and environment ? Key initiatives: 18. Develop a long-term strategy to transform the breaks between urban areas in South East
Queensland (including non-viable canfields) into major new greenspace and outdoor recreational opportunities
19. Improve Queensland’s environment and natural resource protection by finalising the
Coastal Management Plan and the State Planning Policy for Healthy Waters as well as releasing for public comment a draft Biodiversity Strategy and the Strategic Cropping Land Framework
23. Test the feasibility of relocating part of the Mayne Railyards at Bowen Hills to develop
major new inner city greenspace Supporting actions: • Release the final Greenspace Strategy to deliver greater recreation and open space areas
across Queensland, and develop Greenspace Network Plans for key regions to identify future greenspace areas and links
• Ensure greenspace is a central consideration in all new ULDA and structure plan areas • Identify critical gaps in the quality and coverage of data needed to support the State of the
Region Report to improve reporting on South East Queensland Regional Plan implementation
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• Release a Queensland Integrated Waterway Monitoring Framework that will improve the quality, consistency and efficiency of waterways monitoring in Queensland and contribute to enhanced land and water management decision-making by government, industry and the community
• Investigate a ‘Most Sustainable Suburb’ initiative using social media networks to foster more
sustainable living • Release Valuing the Things We Waste – Queensland’s Waste Avoidance and Efficiency
Strategy. The strategy will include policies and initiatives that aim to: • assist in dealing with the impact of population and economic growth in South East
Queensland on waste • better manage and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, energy and water consumption,
including opportunities to increase energy generation from renewable sources • help identify and plan for waste management and resource recovery infrastructure needs
What can community and business do? Queenslanders can: • Join local environmental groups and take action to clean up and protect local habitats • contribute to the protection of Queensland’s biodiversity through Ecofund, and tell others
about such initiatives • Get involved in the development of the Queensland Biodiversity Strategy • Support planning instruments during the consultation phase • Investigate how their properties could contribute to existing schemes such as
‘land for wildlife’ • Queenslanders can volunteer with their local community groups and assist with
collecting specific data, for example, data on native species, as part of their community monitoring programs
• Queenslanders can learn more about the pressures on and the state of our environment by reading the State of the Environment Report or reviewing the facts sheets available at www.derm.qld.gov.au
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Responding to renewable energy In relation to energy infrastructure it was a general theme at the summit that coal-fired energy generation be reduced and the generation and uptake of renewable or alternative energy sources be increased.
Community ideas • Introduce bulk purchasing (for example, of solar photo-voltaic cells) • Invest in mega renewable energy parks • Provide a gross feed in tariff and high-voltage direct current (HVDC) grid connection • Introduce rewards and incentives for projects employing alternate energy sources • Scale up commercial roll-out of new technologies, such as algal synthesis of carbon dioxide
from coal-fired power plants • Provide new and existing houses with renewable energy • Encourage local and autonomous renewable energy generation • Deliver co-generation plants • Establish an economic dividend from growth to fund clean energies • Establish solar thermal power stations • Introduce a solar cities program.
What is the government doing already to promote renewable energy? To explore renewable and low emission energy options, the Queensland Government established the Office of Clean Energy in 2008. The Office of Clean Energy is ensuring the accelerated development of renewable energy, energy efficiency and demand management related projects across Queensland. The Office of Clean Energy will also build on existing work in the renewable energy arena, bringing a new focus to clean energy opportunities in Queensland. The Queensland Renewable Energy Plan (QREP) was released in June 2009 to increase the deployment of renewable energy infrastructure in Queensland. The Queensland Government estimates that successful implementation of the QREP will help leverage up to $3.5 billion in new investment, create up to 3500 jobs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 40 million tonnes by 2020.
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Renewable energy initiatives include: • research and development in renewables through the Queensland Geothermal Energy
Centre of Excellence, a range of mapping projects for locations suitable for alternative energy initiative and through the Queensland Sustainable Energy Innovation Fund, and research being done in algae by Professor Rocky de Nys at the James Cook University in collaboration with business partner MBD Biodiesel.
• investment in development of cellulosic ethanol, including funding for the Mackay Bio-commodities pilot plant being led by the Queensland University of Technology (and linked to the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy), and the Syngenta Centre for Sugarcane Biofuel Development in Brisbane.
• incentives to encourage the uptake of low emission energy, such as through the Solar Bonus Scheme and the Solar Hot Water Rebate
• funding assistance for a range of renewable and alternative energy generation projects including the Windorah Solar Farm and Clean Energy for Remote Communities initiative
• helping communities link to renewable energy through the Solar Schools Project, Townsville Solar City and 500 megawatt virtual solar power station
• assisting the development of renewable and alternative fuels through the Renewable Fuels Industry Action Plan.
The Premier’s Council on Climate Change is also investigating potential measures to facilitate the development of the solar energy industry in Queensland.
What can community and business do? Community members can: • Subscribe to Green Power through their energy bills • Purchase solar photovoltaic panel systems for their rooftop and receive credits on their
electricity bills under the government's Solar Bonus Scheme • Buy a solar hot water system for their home, and receive a government rebate. Business can: • attempt to integrate renewable energy considerations into development proposals
wherever possible.
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Responding to ensuring food security for future generations Food security is an issue of concern to the community which is increasingly seeking access to affordable, ethical, fresh, healthy and local food with traceable origins. Concern was expressed by participants and respondents that agricultural land may be lost to development – both residential and industrial, impacting on future food security. Local food is beneficial for the local economy, building stronger communities through social networks, for health and the environment. Energy and emissions generated through food production, distribution, packaging, storage and consumption was also raised as an issue. Community based food production is increasingly gaining support as a mechanism for building stronger communities and mitigating community vulnerability to increasing food prices.
Community ideas • Protect good quality agricultural land and encourage intensive production in
peri-urban areas • Ensure that rural and agricultural land is valued in decision making • Provide incentives for best practice agricultural and urban outcomes • Address increased food prices and food vulnerability with a food strategy that includes
percentages of urban agriculture and agriculture within 100 kilometres of a city • Undertake a life cycle assessment of food production (seasonal produce, distance
travelled to market, input/output requirements) to inform product availability, pricing and sustainability
• Ensure food production around regional centres and the provision of local produce • Provide city farms and community gardens – urban agriculture that reduces the food to
table distance • Increase urban and suburban garden initiatives that supports growing food and conserving
resources in the home • Put ‘organics’ back into soil that has been degraded to help food areas be more productive • Promote ‘urban greenery’ – all new housing developments to have gardens and food trees • Support farmers markets in high/medium density areas – create community through
design and services • Establish shared use areas. For example, community gardens, and an open area at back
of a few houses together.
What is the government doing already about ensuring food security? The government is committed to ensuring that the state’s interest in agricultural land is well considered when making land use planning and development decisions. This is achieved through the regional plan framework which designates areas known as the ‘regional landscape and rural production area’. This area is designated for land uses that complement the natural assets, such as good quality agricultural land contained in it, and are protected from inappropriate development – particularly urban or rural residential development. A companion document to the South East Queensland Region Plan, is the Rural Futures Strategy for South East Queensland 2009 which proposes a number of actions designed to build on or enhance existing initiatives to support the sustainable economic and social development of South East Queensland‘s rural areas.
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Public consultation has recently closed on a draft policy and planning framework for conserving and managing Queensland’s strategic cropping land. This framework builds on an existing SPP and has four elements: • defining strategic cropping land • developing a new statutory planning instrument • amending resources sector legislation • establishing guidelines for development assessment. The government also invests in research and development to improve the efficiency of food production, reduce susceptibility to pests and diseases and improve drought tolerance. It is establishing a Health and Food Sciences Precinct at Coopers Plains, where scientists from Queensland Health, Department of Employment Economic Development and Innovation, Queensland Primary Industries and Fisheries and CSIRO will join together to research health and food. The Queensland Government also has a range of measures in place to protect food production in Queensland from invasive pests, through Biosecurity Queensland.
What can community and business do? Queenslanders can: • support rural communities by buying local produce • grow their own backyard produce • approach their local government to start, or become involved in, a community garden in
their local area Businesses can: • set up community gardens at their workplaces • ensure their caterers use local, sustainably produced food
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Responding to consumption and waste reduction Individuals and households make choices that have impacts on the environment at the local, community and regional level. Therefore, behavioural change is a key element to managing growth. Awareness of the impacts of our behaviours and alternative options is needed to encourage changes in our consumption patterns. Waste negatively impacts on our natural environment and Queenslanders generate a high level of waste. A reduction in waste generation, coupled with an increase in recycling, can mitigate the impact of growth and contribute to a more sustainable lifestyle.
Community ideas • Educate the community to understand their individual and community impact and
responsibility, and the sustainable choices they can make • Introduce incentive schemes to encourage businesses and households to invest in
sustainable options • Provide ongoing training for professionals • Integrate consumption, waste and sustainability issues into curriculum for schools,
universities and TAFEs • Campaign about lifestyle waste and conspicuous consumption • Reduce consumption (energy, water, land) in new dwellings • Send strong pricing signals and consider user pays initiatives • Introduce real cost pricing of all ecological resources and their use • Rather than regulate people, regulate products to deliver better standards • Use tangible education to showcase alternatives and more sustainable options • Sponsor kitchen table thinking with a reality television show • Develop a trade waste policy • Establish a ‘waste campaign’ to educate people so they create less waste and recycle
and take responsibility for their own waste streams • Encourage research and development to create more sustainable products with
less packaging • Establish a waste levy • Undertake lifecycle analysis of products, and encourage industry to undertake supply
chain mapping (cradle to grave) to inform their waste management • Encourage people to buy items that have less packaging • Put a price on product packaging to pay for waste disposal costs • Provide recycling bins at public beaches and BBQ areas.
What is the government doing already to reduce consumption and waste? The Queensland Government has established a Q2 target to cut Queenslanders’ carbon footprint by one third with reduced car use, electricity use and waste by 2020. Some initiatives in place to assist communities with meeting the Q2 target include: • The ClimateSmart Home Service – a two year program which will deliver improved water
and energy efficiency in 260,000 households across Queensland through the installation of energy monitors and providing behavioural change advice to householders
• The Low Carbon Diet, available to individuals at their workplaces or through community groups, and provides education on more sustainable water, energy and waste reduction behaviours
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• Water: Learn it for life! – a comprehensive education program targeting early and middle years for Queensland schools. It focuses on water conservation and water recycling awareness raising
• TravelSmart – a voluntary travel behaviour change program that encourages people to replace single occupancy vehicle travel with public transport, walking, cycling and carpooling.
The Queensland Government has in place a number of initiatives to assist businesses reduce their carbon footprints and waste. ClimateSmart Business, ecoBiz and Smart Energy Savings programs aim to improve the sustainability of businesses by helping them identify ways to improve waste, water and energy efficiency, leading to significant financial and environmental benefits. For example, participating businesses can undertake an energy audit, develop an Energy Savings Plan and publish their actions on a five-yearly cycle. To manage waste, the Queensland Government administers the Environmental Protection Act 1994, which provides enforceable anti-litter provisions, and the supporting Waste Management Policy 2000 and Regulation, which clarifies waste management practices in Queensland.
The Queensland Government Public Place Recycling project delivers public place recycling across the state. The project also attempts to change peoples' behaviour through an awareness raising campaign ‘Do the Right Thing, Use the Right Bin’ and boost packaging recycling rates under the National Packaging Covenant.
Further options to reduce, reuse, recycle and manage waste are explored in the Queensland Waste Strategy discussion paper titled ‘Let's Not Waste Our Future’.
What can community and business do? Community members can contribute by: • reducing, re-using and recycling their waste • committing to new waste and consumption challenges, through the soon to be released
MyQ2 website • participating in the ClimateSmart Home Service, Low Carbon Diet and TravelSmart
initiatives to help reduce their energy, water and car use. Businesses can introduce energy and water efficiency measures either independently, or assisted through the ClimateSmart Business, ecoBiz and Smart Energy Savings.
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Connecting communities Good quality, reliable public transport supports the development of compact communities and builds socially cohesive and inclusive communities. Throughout the summit and consultation, the provision, enhancement and maintenance of transport systems to preserve and improve quality of life was consistently raised. Similarly, congestion and a lack of good quality public transport are seen as detracting from liveability. The provision, enhancement and maintenance of transport systems was a recurring issue raised by all participants and respondents. Participants said that ensuring the transport system, including public transport, met the needs of Queenslanders, while minimising the impact of transport on the liveability and sustainability of urban areas, was highly important.
Community ideas • Encouraging walking and cycling through: increasing the proportion of funding dedicated
to it, providing more footpaths and bicycle lanes, including rapid velo-ways (bicycle commuter ways), encouraging the private sector to provide end of trip facilities. For example, through grants for small to medium enterprises, implementing bike-share schemes, providing more compact development so that facilities and services are within walking distance, and implementing an audit of walking and cycling connectivity
• Reducing car ownership and car use through: congestion pricing, car share schemes, car pooling, reducing car parking at some developments, and providing incentives for, or coordinating an approach to, deliver no-car development
• Improving public transport through: reducing investment in roads and increasing funding for public transport, upgrading the bus network, requiring new development to have public transport up-front, increasing passenger rail services and bus lanes, introducing light rail or an underground rail system, linking regional activity centres with high speed rail, providing park and ride around major public transport stations, making public transport free or cheaper, encouraging businesses to adopt salary sacrifice for public transport use, making public transport tax deductible
• Calming traffic on residential streets through 40 kilometre per hour speed zones, discouraging rat running, and closing off some roads to cars
• Encouraging alternative vehicles which have lower environmental impact and use road space more efficiently, such as electric cars, power-assisted bicycles, motorcycles, scooters, smaller fuel efficient cars, and cars powered by algal biodiesel
• Reducing congestion through an inner city congestion charge, motorways built around the CBD to allow traffic to bypass congestion, and building double-decker roads
• Maximising use of existing transport infrastructure, such as existing under-utilised railway lines
• identify opportunities to leverage new technology such as the National Broadband Network to strengthen regional economies and local employment opportunities.
What is the government doing already about connecting communities? The Queensland Government and local governments are implementing comprehensive transport improvements in urban areas. An unprecedented investment of $8.4 billion will be made in the next ten years (2010-11 to 2019-20) towards public transport, walking and cycling in South East Queensland through SEQIPP.
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Major improvements are being made to improve public transport’s frequency, quality, connectivity and accessibility including: • significant improvements in public transport infrastructure, frequency, quality, connectivity
and accessibility through the TransLink Network Plan in South East Queensland and qconnect regional public transport services elsewhere
• major upgrades of Brisbane’s metropolitan passenger rail network, including rail line duplications and extensions, construction of the Gold Coast light rail and Springfield rail lines
• major expansion of the Brisbane busway network including completion of the northern busway to Herston and commencement of construction of northern busway to Kedron
• new park and ride facilities at strategic train and bus stations including 1000 additional car spaces and further secure bicycle lockers
• a major upgrade at Ferny Grove rail station, including new and upgraded platforms, new station building, kiss ‘n’ ride, pedestrian and bicycle access, bicycle storage and 1000 car spaces
• the Customer First system, which tracks and monitors buses and ferries on the network to improve network efficiency, and provide real time passenger information so that passengers know how long it will take in real time for their bus to arrive
• priority bus route measures to give priority to buses on the road network to reduce travel time and improve reliability, such as Cultural Centre Busway Station improvements, Kelvin Grove Road bus indent bays and South East Busway Juliette Street Priority Access
• a trial of up to six high capacity buses (the ‘Super Bus’) to increase passenger numbers, reduce time stopped while loading passengers and network congestion, and reduce incidences of buses being too full to stop
• introducing paperless ticketing for public transport in 2011, to reduce boarding times and overall travel time reliability
• planning for the Cairns Transit Network, which will preserve a network of dedicated corridors connecting the length and breadth of Cairns, and give buses priority with a bus rapid transit system via separate bus or transit lanes or on a dedicated busway
• preparing Integrated Regional Transport Plans for Wide Bay Burnett and Far North Queensland, which will better integrate transport with land use and regional planning.
Queenslanders are also encouraged to walk and cycle more through improvements such as: • new walking and cycling facilities, including additional pedestrian and bicycle Brisbane River
crossings, the Northern Brisbane veloway under construction, preserving future corridors for and ongoing improvements to the principal bicycle network in South East Queensland
• end of trip facilities at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital Cycle Centre, King George Square Cycle Centre, and in 61 Mary Street and the Neville Bonner Building government offices
• the Cairns Aeroglen to central business district cycleway • the Transport Information Centre, a joint initiative of the Queensland Government,
Brisbane City Council and TransLink, which provides information and raises awareness of sustainable modes of transport such as public transport, cycling, walking and car pooling to the community
• The Queensland Government is partnering with Bicycle Queensland to trial "Cycle Angels" – a project enabling members of the public to ride to work with a bike buddy in an effort give them the confidence to continue to use this form of sustainable transport
• a new policy that mandates new government infrastructure to incorporate cycling and pedestrian access, links to public transport and end of trip facilities.
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What will the Government do about connecting communities? Key initiatives: 20. Set ambitious 20-year targets to guide the transformation of South East Queensland’s
transport network, including a desire to: • double the share of active transport trips (cycling and walking) from 10% to 20% • double the share of public transport trips from 7% to 14% • reduce the share of trips by private vehicles from 83% to 66%
21. Seek Federal Government assistance to deliver a new river rail crossing in inner
Brisbane that will benefit rail commuters throughout the region. Cross River rail will unlock capacity in the inner city to enable the rail network to be extended into new areas like the Sunshine Coast, Ripley, Kippa-Ring and the southern Gold Coast, and allow greater service frequencies throughout the network
Supporting actions: • Finalise and release the draft ConnectingSEQ, the new Integrated Regional Transport
Plan for South East Queensland. ConnectingSEQ will provide the blueprint for future transport needs, help tackle congestion and progress the vision of ‘15 minute neighbourhoods’ in South East Queensland
• Conduct a trial of Green Pods for cyclists providing secure bike storage, lockers and end
of trip facilities at Darra, Bald Hills and Varsity Lakes rail stations • Release the new Queensland Cycle Strategy, which will aim to encourage more daily
cycling trips by connecting the existing cycle network including working with local governments to deliver the principal cycling network, ensuring all major transport projects include cycling facilities, delivering end-of-trip facilities, and promoting cycling as an alternative to car use
• Encourage local government to provide funding for expanded public transport services and
infrastructure, which could double the number of public transport services in some areas • Pilot shared car-parking in a transit oriented community precinct to deliver more efficient
use of land and greater community amenity • Explore opportunities to rollout out wireless internet connection to major public spaces and
major public transport stations • Work with the Federal Government to maximise the geographic reach of the National
Broadband Network to strengthen regional economies and local employment opportunities, including aiming to provide optical fibre to all education, health and public safety facilities, all state and local government libraries, all local government council administration buildings, and a central facility in all hub towns
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What can community and business do? • Businesses could help support the liveability and sustainability of their communities by
providing end of trip facilities (showers, lockers, secure bicycle storage) at their workplaces and encouraging employees to walk, cycle and use public transport to travel to work
• New and relocating businesses could consider locating in activity centres with existing or planned access to high frequency public transport services and cycle network linkages
• Residents could consider replacing their local car trips with walking, cycling or public transport. Even one less car trip a week makes a difference
• Residents establishing or relocating could consider buying homes in transit corridors where high frequency public transport services are provided
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Implementation The following table details the 22 key initiatives and 25 supporting actions, the government agency leading the implementation of each action, the government agencies responsible for supporting implementation of each action and the timing of implementation. Although each action has been assigned to a particular government agency to lead its implementation, the Department of Planning and Infrastructure has overall responsibility for the government’s ongoing work in planning for and managing growth. Shaping the future Action Lead
agency Support agencies
Timing
1. Establish Growth Management Queensland, a new agency within the Department of Infrastructure and Planning to lead the government’s growth management agenda. This will deliver: • a more coordinated approach to growth
management in Queensland • better linkages between land use planning,
infrastructure delivery, economic development, protection of environmental assets, expansion of greenspace and affordable housing
• a complementary approach to regional planning and regionalisation.
DIP Mid-2010-2012
2. Investigate a new Liveability Grants Program to support new initiatives that engage local neighbourhoods in planning for the future.
DIP Communities
End 2010
3. Develop a community engagement strategy for growth management, including: • developing a suite of community-focussed tools to
explain the planning process in Queensland and the opportunities it provides for participation
• enhancing support to local government involved in the delivery of regional planning outcomes
• establishing a community and industry reference panel to provide strategic advice to government
• monitoring community opinion through online tools and research
• contacting summit attendees in early 2011 to determine their interest in reconvening the summit to gauge progress and determine any further implementation mechanisms required.
DIP All others Strategy mid-2010; implementation ongoing; Social research mid-2011; Contact summit attendees early 2011
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Strengthening our regions Action Lead
agency Support agencies
Timing
4. Deliver a Queensland Regionalisation Strategy to encourage population growth and economic development outside South East Queensland.
DIP DEEDI, Treasury, DTMR, DPW, Health, DERM
Draft end 2010 Final mid-2011
5. Introduce an $11,000 Regional First Home Owners Grant for building new homes to encourage regional growth, providing a $4000 boost to the existing First Home Owners Grant.
Treasury DIP, DEEDI
1 June 2010
6. Decentralise government agencies in South East Queensland to Fitzgibbon and Bowen Hills as the next step in the decentralisation agenda. This follows the government’s existing commitment to decentralise to Ipswich.
DPW PSC, DIP, DPW
2012
7. Relocate some government functions to regional Queensland to progress the regionalisation agenda.
DPW PSC, DIP, DPW
2014
8. Develop a Townsville Futures Plan to support regional growth and economic development in Townsville in partnership with Townsville City Council and other local stakeholders. This plan will aim to position Townsville as the key centre for North Queensland.
DIP DTMR, DERM, Communities, DEEDI, DCS, DPW
End 2010
• Partner with the Australian Government to establish a Queensland Migration Plan, which will include a bilateral agreement between the state and federal governments to set skilled and business migration priorities and identify ways to better retain skilled migrants in regional areas that need their skills. This will inform the Queensland Regionalisation Strategy.
DEEDI DPC, DIP 1 July 2010
• Work with the Australian Government to develop a National Population Strategy (that is then reflected in a state policy)
DEEDI DIP, Communities, DPC, Treasury
Mid-2011
• Develop and include employment projections in all regional plans to support more jobs closer to where people live as part of the preparation of regional plans across Queensland.
DIP Treasury, DEEDI, DTMR, QPS
Mid-2011 for SEQ Ongoing for other regions
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Promoting liveable and affordable communities Action Lead
agency Support agencies
Timing
9. Task the Urban Land Development Authority with responsibility for facilitating delivery of major new satellite communities in priority greenfield areas, initially at Ripley Valley, Yarrabilba and Flagstone. A mandated percentage of all dwellings developed across areas will be affordable to people on low to moderate incomes.
DIP ULDA End 2010
10. Establish an Infrastructure Charges Taskforce to further reform development infrastructure charging arrangements, including identifying opportunities to simplify charges and provide greater certainty, as well as provide advice on alternative trunk infrastructure funding arrangements such third party financing.
DIP Treasury, DTMR
End 2010
11. Streamline state planning arrangements to increase certainly and improve housing affordability and increase land supply. This will include: • coordinating state interest check reviews more
effectively in structure plan areas • effectively integrating structure planning and
master planning stages for Greenfield developments
• reducing the number of state agency referral triggers for Development Applications
• publishing a forward program of proposed state planning instruments
• boosting the tools and training available to support Queensland’s new planning system.
DIP
From July 2010 ongoing
12. Release a discussion paper on ‘Go Zones and No-Go Zones’ to provide greater planning certainty for local communities in partnerships with local governments.
DIP DTMR, ULDA, QPS
Mid-2010
13. Investigate new ways to deliver affordable housing which support people on lower to middle incomes, including: • options to incorporate affordable housing in new
developments • piloting a public housing renewal project at
Coopers Plains, working with the Brisbane City Council to masterplan a new future for an area of aged public housing stock.
DIP Communities, Treasury, QPS, DTMR
Early 2011
14. Design an athlete’s ecoVillage as part of Queensland’s 2018 Commonwealth Games bid, suitable for post-Games reuse as a vibrant transit oriented community on the Gold Coast
DIP DTMR, ULDA
Mid-2011
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Promoting liveable and affordable communities (continued) 15. Support sustainable urban development through
leadership including: • ensuring government developments are exemplars
of sustainable urban design. Pilot Yeerongpilly Transit Oriented Development as a demonstration of best practice in sustainable urban development
• continuing to support the Centre for Subtropical Design for a further three years to enable the Centre to extend its research into the design and delivery of climate responsive development in Queensland. As part of government’s in-kind contribution to the Centre’s activities an experienced planner will be assigned to work with and support the Centre
• piloting a green roof or wall project in association with a major government infrastructure or development project
• piloting CitySwitch Green Office, a national tenant energy efficiency program, in a Queensland Government building
• delivering projects demonstrating best practice in sustainable urban design in the regions.
DIP DIP DIP DPW DIP
DTMR, DPW DERM DERM, DIP ULDA
Commencing early 2011 2010-2012 December 2011 Late 2010 Completion mid-2011
• Release Transit Oriented Development Guidelines that identify best practice in delivery of compact communities by September 2010, supported by training and workshops to build capacity around transit oriented development delivery.
DIP DTMR, QPS
Mid-2010
• Seek expressions of interest from the private sector to develop a landmark transit oriented precinct focussed on Coorparoo Junction in partnership with Brisbane City Council (following expiry of the current leases).
DIP DTMR, ULDA
2012
• Develop and include employment projections in all regional plans to support more jobs closer to where people live as part of the preparation of regional plans across Queensland.
DIP Treasury, DEEDI, DTMR, QPS
Mid-2011 Ongoing for other regions
• Prepare annual Growth Management Program Reports to monitor land supply, track development against dwelling targets and recommend actions to manage growth in South East Queensland.
DIP DTMR, ULDA
Late 2010
• Review the scope of the Urban Land Development Authority, including consideration of its role in influencing land supply, fostering a competitive marketplace and potential compulsory acquisition powers.
DIP ULDA, Communities
End 2010
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Promoting liveable and affordable communities (continued) • Initiate a program of leadership in urban design
including: • incorporating urban design as a critical component
of the recently announced Queensland Design Triennial to be held in Brisbane in early October 2010
• requiring key infrastructure procuring departments to appoint appropriately qualified urban design champions, who will work with the Board for Urban Places to champion well-designed buildings, public places and infrastructure
• using Queensland’s Commonwealth Games bid to focus international attention on Queensland’s emerging reputation as a design leader, and ensure Games infrastructure exhibits design excellence.
DIP
DPW, DPC
End 2011
• Build urban design capacity in Queensland including: • developing training and capacity building programs
to increase urban design skills across State and local government, with industry and the community
• developing a Guideline for Government Buildings, Precincts and Infrastructure which all agencies must comply with
• investigate widening the scope, strengthening the powers and increasing the resourcing of the Board for Urban Places
• having the Board for Urban Places prepare a Queensland Infrastructure Design Strategy including a review of how current procurement practices could be enhanced to support optimum urban design outcomes.
DIP
DPW, DEEDI, DET
2011-2014
Delivering infrastructure Action Lead
agency Support agencies
Timing
16. Introduce a Queensland Infrastructure Plan (QIP) that clearly links infrastructure delivery with population growth and economic development priorities. From 2011-12, QIP will integrate existing state infrastructure planning documents such as the South East Queensland Infrastructure Plan and Program (SEQIPP) and the Roads Implementation Program (RIP).
DIP
DPC, Treasury, DTMR, Communities, Health, DET, DEEDI, QPS
Mid-2011
17. Work in partnership with local government to confirm the distribution of dwelling targets within South East Queensland through development of a QIP. This will help strengthen the link between infrastructure investment and accommodation dwelling targets within the existing urban footprint and investigation areas in the regional plan.
DIP DTMR, Treasury, DPC, Communities, Health
Mid-2011
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Delivering infrastructure (continued) • Work more closely with local governments in the
sequencing of infrastructure projects to take account of significant local infrastructure investment.
DIP
Mid-2011
• Investigate options (such as tolling policies) to fund infrastructure in greenfield sites that are isolated and therefore rely on extremely high levels of state investment.
DIP DTMR, Treasury
Late 2010
• Examine additional mechanisms for the financing of state infrastructure.
DIP Treasury, DTMR
End 2010
Protecting our lifestyle and environment Action Lead
agency Support agencies
Timing
18. Develop a long-term strategy to transform the breaks between urban areas in South East Queensland’s key locations (including non-viable canefields) into major new greenspace and outdoor recreational opportunities.
DIP DERM, DEEDI
Mid-2011
19. Improve Queensland’s environment and natural resource protection by: • finalising the Queensland Coastal Plan • finalising the State Planning Policy for Healthy
Waters • releasing for public comment a draft
Biodiversity Strategy • the Strategic Cropping Land Framework.
DERM DERM DERM DIP
DIP DIP DIP DERM, DEEDI
Feb 2011 Feb 2011 Mid-2010 End 2010
20. Test the feasibility of relocating part of the Mayne Railyards at Bowen Hills to develop major new inner city greenspace
DIP DERM Early 2011
• Release the final Greenspace Strategy to deliver greater recreation and open space areas across Queensland, and develop Greenspace Network Plans for key regions to identify future greenspace areas and links.
DIP DERM End 2011
• Identify critical gaps in the quality and coverage of data needed to support the State of the Region Report to improve reporting on South East Queensland Regional Plan implementation.
DIP DERM, DTRM
End 2010
• Ensure greenspace is a central consideration in all new Urban Development Areas and structure plan areas.
DIP ULDA, DERM
Ongoing
• Release a Queensland Integrated Waterway Monitoring Framework that will improve the quality, consistency and efficiency of waterways monitoring in Queensland and contribute to enhanced land and water management decision-making by government, industry and the community.
DERM
Mid-2010
• Investigate a ‘Most Sustainable Suburb’ initiative using social media networks to foster more sustainable living.
DPC DERM End 2010
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Protecting our lifestyle and environment (continued) • Release Valuing the Things We Waste –
Queensland’s Waste Avoidance and Efficiency Strategy. The strategy will include policies and initiatives that aim to: • assist in dealing with the impact of population
and economic growth in South East Queensland on waste
• better manage and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, energy and water consumption, including opportunities to increase energy generation from renewable sources
• help identify and plan for waste management and resource recovery infrastructure needs.
DERM DEEDI End 2010
Connecting communities Action Lead
agency Support agencies
Timing
21. Set ambitious 20-year targets to guide the transformation of South East Queensland’s transport network, including an desire to: • Double the share of active transport trips
(cycling and walking) from 10% to 20% • Double the share of public transport trips from
7% to 14% • Reduce the share of trips by private vehicles
from 83% to 66%.
DTMR DIP, DERM Mid-2010
22. Seek Federal Government assistance to deliver a new river rail crossing in inner Brisbane that will benefit rail commuters throughout the region. Cross River rail will unlock capacity in the inner city to enable the rail network to be extended into new areas like the Sunshine Coast, Ripley, Kippa-Ring and the southern Gold Coast, and allow greater service frequencies throughout the network.
DTMR DIP Ongoing
• Finalise and release the draft ConnectingSEQ, the new Integrated Regional Transport Plan for South East Queensland. ConnectingSEQ will provide the blueprint for future transport needs, help tackle congestion and progress the vision of ‘15 minute neighbourhoods’ in South East Queensland.
DTMR DIP Mid-2010
• Conduct a trial of Green Pods for cyclists providing secure bike storage, lockers and end of trip facilities at Darra, Bald Hills and Varsity Lakes rail stations.
DTMR DIP Early 2011
• Release the new Queensland Cycle Strategy, which will aim to encourage more daily cycling trips by connecting the existing cycle network including working with local governments to deliver the principal cycling network, ensuring all major transport projects include cycling facilities, delivering end-of-trip facilities, and promoting cycling as an alternative to car use.
DTMR DIP End 2010
69
Connecting communities (continued) • Encourage local government to provide funding for
expanded public transport services and infrastructure, which could double the number of public transport services in some areas.
DIP DTMR Ongoing
• Pilot shared car-parking in a transit oriented community precinct to deliver more efficient use of land and greater community amenity.
DIP DTMR 2012
• Explore opportunities to rollout out wireless internet connection to major public spaces and major public transport stations.
DPW DIP, DTMR End 2010
• Work with the Federal Government to maximise the geographic reach of the National Broadband Network to strengthen regional economies and local employment opportunities, including aiming to provide optical fibre to all education, health and public safety facilities, all state and local government libraries, all local government council administration buildings, and a central facility in all hub towns.
DPW DEEDI, DIP, DET, Health, Communities
2011
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List of acronyms used in this response ACT Australian Capital Territory AGIC Australian Green Infrastructure Council BCC Brisbane City Council CBD Central business district CEO Chief Executive Officer COAG Council of Australian Governments CPTED Crime Prevention through Environmental Design CRC Cooperative Research Centre DEEDI Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation DERM Department of Environment and Resource Management DET Department of Education and Training DIP Department of Infrastructure and Planning DPC Department of the Premier and Cabinet DPSIR Driving forces, pressures, state, impacts and responses DPW Department of Public Works DTMR Department of Transport and Main Roads EOB Environmental offsets bank FTE Full time equivalent GBR Great Barrier Reef GDP Gross domestic product HVDC High-voltage direct current ICT Information communication and technology IDAS Integrated development assessment system IRTP Integrated Regional Transport Plan NBN National broadband network
71
NSW New South Wales Q2 Toward Q2: Tomorrow’s Queensland QDC Queensland Development Code QLD Queensland QREP Queensland Renewable Energy Plan QTRIP Queensland Transport and Roads Investment Program RIP Roads Investment Program RNA Royal National Agricultural (RNA showgrounds) SEQ South East Queensland SEQIPP South East Queensland Infrastructure Plan and Program SME Small and medium enterprise SPA Sustainable Planning Act (2009) SPI State planning instrument SPP State planning policy TAFE Technical and further education TOD Transit oriented development UDA Urban development area ULDA Urban Land Development Authority UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation
72
Appendices Appendix 1: Summit Advisory Panel members Appendix 2: Consultation statistics/related events Appendix 3: Social market research Appendix 4: Summit program Appendix 5: Summit attendees Appendix 6: Summit communiqué Appendix 7: Summit workshop ideas Appendix 8: All growth management ideas (collated)
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