Queensland Parliament Passes Amendments to Address the Issues Arising Out Of the Decisions of a Private Certifier

On 10 May 2017, the Queensland parliament passed the Local Government Electoral (Transparency and Accountability in Local Government) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2016.

Among other things, the Bill sought to address issues arising as a result of a number of decisions of the Planning and Environment Court and the Court of Appeal in relation to the interaction between private certifiers and local governments in the issuing of development approvals (the private certifier decisions).

In brief, the private certifier decisions address the circumstances in which a development approval is also required from the local government where a building development approval is sought from a private certifier.

More of this article by Ian Wright and Shaun Pryor from the Planning Government Infrastructure & Environment team can be found here.