News and Insights

Recent alert on proposed legislative changes In a recent alert titled Stage 1 reforms for Queensland public sector encourage job security and positive performance management Andrew Tobin outlined key proposed legislative changes to the Public Servic

Proposed legislative changes The Public Service and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2020 (Bill) was introduced into State Parliament on 16 July 2020. This Bill seeks to progress the priority stage one reforms following completion of the Bridgman Re

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic the state government has introduced new laws to urgently amend local government election laws and hopefully reduce the risk of virus transmission. The Public Health and Other Legislation (Public Health Emergency)

From 1 January 2020, local governments are required to report on certain aspects of their infrastructure programs, including the amount of infrastructure charges levied and collected annually, how those funds are being spent and the value of offsets

Historical background The Queensland Planning Provisions (Version 4) (QPP) dated January 2016 were the template for many Local Government Planning Schemes that were introduced prior to the commencement of the Planning Act 2016 (PA).  They were in

Key issues: The Planning and Environment Court has confirmed that an assessment manager is not bound by, or limited to, its reasons for refusal and does not require leave to rely on planning scheme provisions not articulated in its decision noti

Key issues: The Queensland Court of Appeal has recently confirmed that clearing category X vegetation is not accepted development under the Planning Regulation 2017 and may still require a development approval under a local government planning sch

Local government is big business with assets worth over $40 billion under the control of community-minded people largely unqualified for the role. With an increasingly sophisticated community requiring a higher standard of decision making it’s a no

After a turbulent couple of years, the Local Government Minister announced a review of the Local Government Act 1995 (WA) (the Act) last year. The goal of the review will be to modernise the Act to improve local government service delivery, as well

In the Summer edition of Envisage, we provided commentary on the Planning and Environment Court’s decision in Gerhardt v Brisbane City Council (2015) QPEC 34. We noted that the judgment called into question planning scheme provisions which attempt

On 1 July 2014, the operative provisions of the Environmental Offsets Act 2014 commenced. The Environmental Offsets Act implements a new offsets regime in Queensland and is supported by the Environmental Offsets Regulation 2014, the Queensland Envir