Queensland’s strict new planning regime for large-scale renewable energy and battery storage projects remains “very messy and very complicated,” one year down the track, as councils are forced to “learn on the job” and developers find themselves mired in lengthy, early-stage project delays.
The planning rules, unveiled by the Queensland LNP in May 2025, require developers to complete social impact assessments (SIA) and enter into “binding” community benefit agreements (CBA) with local governments before they can apply for state approval.
“Assessments will be undertaken at the outset – not after – before the development application is put in,” state planning minister Jarrod Bleijie told state parliament, at the time. “This will enable communities to have a say about what is important to them.”
But at the 2026 Wind Industry Forum this week, environment and sustainability lawyer Matthew Thornton-Dibb, from Pinsent Masons, said this aspect of the new rules was creating a range of unnecessary risks and challenges, both for project developers and local councils.
“I think it’s good that there is a social impact assessment. I think it’s good that there is a community benefit agreement that is mandatory,” Thornton-Dibb told the conference in Melbourne on Tuesday.
