Purpose:

The purpose of this Act is to regulate the clearing of vegetation in a way that conserves various regional ecosystems, prevents land degradation, avoids biodiversity loss, maintains ecological processes, reduces greenhouse gas emissions, and allows for sustainable land use.

Objectives:

• Conserve remnant vegetation, including endangered, of concern, and least concern regional ecosystems.
• Conserve vegetation in declared areas.
• Ensure clearing does not cause land degradation.
• Prevent the loss of biodiversity.
• Maintain ecological processes.
• Manage the environmental effects of clearing to achieve conservation, prevent degradation, and maintain ecological integrity.
• Reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
• Allow for sustainable land use.
• Provide assessment benchmarks for development applications involving vegetation clearing.
• Enforce vegetation clearing provisions.
• Establish declared areas.
• Apply the precautionary principle in decision-making when there are threats of serious or irreversible environmental damage.
• Regulate particular regrowth vegetation.

Key Provisions:

• Regulation of Vegetation Clearing: Establishes a framework for managing the clearing of native trees and plants.
• State Policy for Vegetation Management: Requires the Minister to prepare and approve a policy outlining outcomes and actions for vegetation management, including special considerations for significant community projects.
• Declaration of High Nature Conservation Value and Vulnerable Areas: Provides mechanisms for the Governor in Council, Minister, or chief executive to declare areas based on their ecological significance or susceptibility to land degradation.
• Accepted Development Vegetation Clearing Codes: Authorises the Minister to create codes for specific clearing activities (e.g., extractive industry, infrastructure, environmental activities, sustainable land use including fodder harvesting) and native forest practices, which, if complied with, are deemed accepted development under the Planning Act.
• Vegetation Management Maps: Defines and mandates the certification and publication of various maps, including the regulated vegetation management map (showing vegetation category areas), vegetation management wetlands map, vegetation management watercourse and drainage feature map, and essential habitat map.
• Property Map of Assessable Vegetation (PMAV): Allows for the creation and replacement of property-specific maps showing vegetation category areas, which prevail over the broader regulated vegetation management map if inconsistent.
• Area Management Plans: Permits the chief executive to create plans for specific areas, outlining management intent, outcomes, and conditions for vegetation clearing (e.g., for pest control, public safety, infrastructure, encroachment, thickened vegetation management, fodder harvesting, necessary environmental clearing).
• Enforcement Powers: Grants authorised officers powers for investigations, inspections, entry to places, seizure of evidence, and requiring information or documents to ensure compliance with the Act.
• Compliance Notices: Enables officials to issue “stop work notices” to halt vegetation clearing offences and “restoration notices” to rectify committed offences, including requirements for restoration plans.
• Regional Ecosystems Database (VM REDD): Establishes and defines the database for identifying and classifying regional ecosystems (endangered, of concern, least concern).

Evidence of Compliance Requirements For Agricultural Organisations:

• Accepted Development Vegetation Clearing Code Compliance:
  • Action/Documentation: If an “accepted development vegetation clearing code” applies to a clearing activity or native forest practice (e.g., for fodder harvesting, managing thickened vegetation, clearing of encroachment, controlling non-native plants or declared pests), the activity must comply with the code for it to be accepted development.
  • Reporting Requirements: If the code requires, a notice of intended clearing or native forest practice must be given to the chief executive (s.19O(3)(i)). This notice’s details will be included in a public register (s.19R(1), (2), (3)), including the real property description of the land (s.19R(4)). The name of the person giving the notice must not be in the publicly available part of the register (s.19R(3)).
  • Time Frames: If a code is revoked or replaced, any notice given under that code ceases to have effect (s.19S(2)(a)), and the activity cannot continue under that code or its replacement unless the replacement code explicitly provides otherwise (s.19S(2)(b), (3)).
• Property Map of Assessable Vegetation (PMAV) Applications:
  • Action/Documentation: Owners of land (which includes lessees/licensees of Land Act 1994 tenures for agriculture or grazing) may apply to the chief executive for a PMAV (s.20C(1)).
  • Documentation: The application must be in the approved form, state prescribed information, and be accompanied by the prescribed fee (s.20C(2)).
  • Action/Documentation: If the owner proposes an area be a category X area (where clearing has happened), and certain past clearing circumstances (e.20CA(2),(3)) apply, the chief executive may require the owner to show why the area should be category X. This involves giving a notice inviting the owner to show cause.
  • Submission Requirements: The owner’s submission to show cause must be written, signed by each signatory (including their name and address), state the grounds of the submission, and the facts and circumstances relied on (s.20CA(5)(d), (e), (f), s.55AD(3)(d), (e), (f)).
  • Time Frames: The submission period must be at least 15 business days after the notice is given (s.20CA(6)).
• Area Management Plan Compliance:
  • Action/Documentation: If an area management plan is in force, entities can give notification of intention to clear vegetation and clear under the plan, subject to its conditions (s.137(3)).
  • Mandatory Conditions: For plans allowing clearing for “relevant infrastructure activities”, clearing must not be reasonably avoidable or minimised (s.21D(2)). For plans including “restricted (fodder harvesting) land” (e.g., State-controlled roads, local government roads, trust land but not indigenous land), vegetation on that land cannot be cleared for fodder harvesting (s.21A, s.21D(3)).
  • Record-keeping Requirements: Area management plans are given a unique identifying number and registered by the chief executive, with details considered appropriate (s.21E). Copies are available for inspection and purchase (s.70AB).
• Vegetation Clearing Application Requirements (Managing Thickened Vegetation):
  • Documentation: An application for managing thickened vegetation must demonstrate how proposed clearing will restore the regional ecosystem to its typical floristic composition and densities (s.22B(2)).
  • Specific Information: The application must include: location and extent of proposed clearing; selective clearing methods; evidence that clearing is limited to prescribed regional ecosystems and restrictions; and evidence that the regional ecosystem has thickened compared to the same regional ecosystem in the bioregion (s.22B(2)(a)-(d)).
• Restoration Notices and Restoration Plans:
  • Action: A person who has committed a vegetation clearing offence must comply with a “restoration notice” to rectify the matter (s.54B(5)).
  • Action/Documentation: The notice will state the reasonable steps to rectify and a reasonable period (s.54B(3)(e), (f)). These steps can include giving a proposed restoration plan (s.54B(6)).
  • Time Frames: The person must prepare and give the chief executive a proposed restoration plan within the reasonable period stated in the restoration notice (s.55AB(1)).
  • Action/Documentation: If requested by the chief executive (s.55AC(1)(b) or ©), the person must amend and give the amended plan within 20 business days (s.55AC(2)).
  • Record-keeping Requirements: Restoration notices are recorded in the land registry (s.55A(1)-(3)). The registrar of titles keeps records showing the notice has been given (s.55A(2)-(3)). Once complied with or terminated, the chief executive gives notice to the registrar to remove the particulars (s.55A(4),(5)).
  • Consequences of Non-Compliance: Failure to give a proposed restoration plan, or to comply with requests for amendments, or failure to comply with the approved plan, means the restoration notice is not complied with (s.55AF(1), (2)). This can lead to penalties (s.54B(5)) and the chief executive taking action to stop the contravention and recover costs (s.54C).
• Enforceable Undertakings:
  • Action: A person can enter a written “enforceable undertaking” in an approved form (s.68CC(2)) regarding contraventions or alleged contraventions.
  • Compliance: If a person complies with the undertaking, no proceedings may be taken against them (s.68CD(2)).
  • Consequences of Non-Compliance: Contravening an undertaking is an offence with severe penalties (s.68CI(1)). A Magistrates Court can order compliance or discharge, and payment of investigation and monitoring costs (s.68CI(3),(4)).
• General Obligations:
  • Information Provision: Persons must provide information to authorised officers when required to ascertain compliance (s.36(3)(g), s.51(3)). This includes name and address (s.49(2)).
  • Document Production: Persons must make available or produce documents related to vegetation clearing for inspection (s.52(1)). They may be required to certify copies of documents (s.52(3)).
  • Time Frames: Information must be given at a stated reasonable place and time (s.51(2)). Documents must be produced at a reasonable time and place (s.52(1)).
  • Consequences of Non-Compliance: Failure to give help (s.37(1)), provide information (s.38(1), s.51(3)), give name/address (s.50(1)), certify copy of document (s.53(1)), or produce a document (s.54(1)) are offences.

Metadata Keywords:

Vegetation, Queensland, Management, Clearing, Land Degradation, Biodiversity, Regional Ecosystems, Fodder Harvesting, Agriculture, Forestry.

Publication Information:

Publication date: 1 February 2024 Version number: Not specified in document (but year 1999 for the Act)

Agricultural Industry Alignment:

Beef & Veal, Chicken, Coarse Grains, Cotton, Dairy, Eggs, Fisheries, Forestry, Horticulture, Oilseeds, Pig, Sheep Meat, Sugar, Wheat, Wine, Wool.

Date Added to database:

This document was parsed and added to the database on 25-07-2025

URL:

https://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/view/whole/pdf/inforce/current/act-1999-090 →