Download Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area and Adjacent Coastal Zone

Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area and
Adjacent Coastal Zone Strategic Assessment
Program Summary
Flood plume from Maria Creek, Kurramine. Photo: Commonwealth of Australia (GBRMPA)
Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area and Adjacent Coastal Zone Strategic Assessment Program Summary
Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area and Adjacent
Coastal Zone Strategic Assessment Program Summary
Queensland coastal management, planning and development
framework
Background
The Australian and Queensland governments are working together to undertake a comprehensive strategic
assessment of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area and the adjacent coastal zone to help ensure we
identify, plan for and manage existing and emerging risks to ensure the protection and management of the unique
environmental values.
There are two components to this comprehensive strategic assessment—a marine component and a coastal
component. Queensland will lead the coastal component involving a strategic assessment of the coastal zone
adjacent to the Great Barrier Reef to:
• identify likely impacts, including cumulative impacts, on matters of national environmental significance (MNES)
such as the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area, listed species and other matters, as a result of planned
development; and
• determine whether the coastal management, planning and development framework adequately protects MNES.
This document is a summary of the Queensland coastal component of the program and is intended to assist the
public by providing context to the draft terms of reference.
The program—summary
Queensland’s coastal planning and development framework is comprised of a number of components:
• plans, policies and programs relevant to the broader management of the Great Barrier Reef region and
catchments within the State’s jurisdiction, including those associated with national park islands, State marine
parks, shipping activities and reef water quality initiatives
• identifying areas of importance such as the methodology for mapping areas of national and state environmental
significance and the policy requirements that apply to these areas
• avoiding, mitigating and offsetting impacts including the application of policy requirements to MNES through:
o the Queensland Coastal Plan, regional plans, local plans and development assessment processes under
Queensland’s Sustainable Planning Act 2009 (SPA)
o state legislative, planning and development systems that relating to state development areas, ports and
urban development areas.
Management of the reef
The Queensland Government is responsible for a range of plans, policies and programs that underpin
management of to the GBR Region and catchments, including:
• biodiversity offsets policy
• Queensland Reef Protection legislation
• The Reef Water Quality Protection Plan
• management of Queensland marine parks and national park islands
• assessment of development types and activities under the Environment Protection Act 1994 that are not
regulated under the SPA
• Great Barrier Reef Coastal Marine Park
• fisheries management, including fish habitat protection
• stewardship programs including education programs and science management.
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Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area and Adjacent Coastal Zone Strategic Assessment Program Summary
Identifying areas of importance
One of the most critical steps in protecting MNES is being able to identify where those values exist and their
function. Queensland has a range of mechanisms in place to identify critical areas, but at its heart is the
Queensland Coastal Plan mapping.
The Coastal Plan uses the concept of ‘Areas of Ecological Significance’ (AES) as the means to spatially depict
biodiversity values in the landscape as areas of high ecological significance (HES) or areas of general ecological
significance (GES). HES areas have a critical role in maintaining the biodiversity of the coastal zone. Mapped
areas of HES are the result of a comprehensive assessment of biodiversity interests in the coastal zone and
include the protected area estate, endangered and of concern regional ecosystems, high value coastal wetlands
and core essential habitat for selected threatened species. The policy seeks to protect mapped areas of HES
through an avoiding impacts in most areas, but applying a ‘minimise and offset’ impacts policy in specific areas
(such as urban areas and ports).
Specific requirements to protect the habitat of threatened species have also been included. There is also a general
requirement to minimise impacts on other ecological values where these cannot be consistently mapped, such as
sea grass beds, hind shore and foreshore roosting/nesting sites and where local assessments have found
threatened species. The plan also requires that development minimises adverse impacts on mapped areas of GES.
Avoiding, mitigating and offsetting impacts
Queensland has a range of state policies and plans that guide development at the local level (see My Street Our
State, from the Mackay, Isaac and Whitsunday Regional Plan 2012, for example).
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Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area and Adjacent Coastal Zone Strategic Assessment Program Summary
The SPA establishes a hierarchy of State planning instruments (such as State planning regulatory provisions,
regional plans and State planning policies (SPP) and local planning instruments). SPA provides for SPPs such as
in the coastal plan to be reflected in regional plans, local plans and used in development assessment. It also
establishes the legislative mechanism underpinning development assessment and decision-making; the Integrated
Development Assessment System (IDAS).
The Queensland Coastal Plan protects the resources of the coastal zone by setting out criteria for land-use
planning, coastal activities and development assessment. The coastal plan incorporates SPP 3/11 – Coastal
Protection and the State Policy for Coastal Management. The coastal zone is established under the Coastal
Protection and Management Act 1995 and includes Queensland waters, all islands and adjacent inland areas
(5 km from the coast or 10 m Australian Height Datum contour, whichever is the furthest).
The plan also preferences consolidated nodal urban settlement over linear development along the coast. This is
because ribbon development increases community exposure to coastal hazard risks, potentially sterilises
opportunities for coastal-dependent development, and results in increased exposure of high value coastal habitat to
the adverse effects of urbanisation. Planning instruments will be required to allocate future land for urban purposes
outside of HES areas.
There are also a number of other planning measures that apply in the coastal zone under SPA including:
• SPP 4/11: Protecting Wetlands of High Ecological Significance in Great Barrier Reef Catchments
• SPP 2/02: Planning and Managing Development Involving Acid Sulfate Soils 2.0
• SPP 4/10: Healthy Waters
• Far North Queensland (FNQ) Regional Plan 2009–2031
• Mackay, Isaac and Whitsunday Regional Plan 2012.
Regional plans operate in conjunction with other statutory planning instruments and development assessment
processes by identifying:
• desired regional outcomes
• policies and actions for achieving the desired regional outcomes
• the future regional land use pattern
• regional infrastructure provision to service the future regional land use pattern; and
• key regional environmental, economic and cultural resources to be preserved, maintained or developed.
The Far North Queensland Regional Plan 2009–2031 and the Mackay, Isaac and Whitsunday Regional Plan 2012
provide the blueprint for managing population growth and guiding development in these regions. Regional plans for
Central Queensland and North Queensland will be developed in coming years.
Other legislative components of the framework include those for urban development areas under the Urban Land
Development Authority Act 2007 (ULDAA), state development areas under the State Development and Public
Works Organisation Act 1971 and ports under the Transport Infrastructure Act 1994 (TIA). Additionally, planning
and development for certain airports (e.g. Cairns and Mackay) are approved under the Airport Assets
(Restructuring and Disposal) Act 2008.
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