The Property Council has lodged a submission with the Agriculture, Resources and Environment Parliamentary Committee on the Environmental Offsets Bill 2014.
The Property Council supports the development of a single, integrated environmental offsets policy, to provide a consistent approach to the determination and delivery of offsets in Queensland.
However, concerns remain regarding the delivery and implementation of the framework.
The Property Council has raised a number of concerns with the framework, and has provided recommendations for each. These recommendations include:
- Introducing an exemption for urban development in areas identified for urban purposes.
- Limiting the scope of local government offset policies and immediately introduce the cap of 1:4 on local government offsets.
- Immediately undertaking consultation on the proposed dispute resolution process and revise requirements regarding staging and conditions.
- Reviewing inputs into the financial offsets calculator to ensure a fair system that meets stated policy objectives.
- Allowing for consultation on the materials developed to support and implement the Bill, prior to their finalisation.
The submission can be found at the PDF link above.