Economic Development Queensland and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2024
Economic Development Queensland is the Queensland Government’s land use planning and property development agency.
The Economic Development Act 2012 (ED Act) provides the legislative framework for EDQ to work in partnership across government, industry and the community to lead and deliver infrastructure and property projects.
The Economic Development and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2024 proposed amendments to the ED Act to support EDQ delivering more homes faster, responding to the current housing supply challenges in Queensland. The Bill was passed by Queensland Parliament on 11 June 2024 and the amendments came into effect on 1 July 2024.
Key amendments
The amendments focus on four key areas:
- Housing supply, affordability and diversity,
- The introduction of a Place Renewal Framework,
- EDQ’s corporate structure,
- Operational refinements to existing functions and powers.
The amendments offer various avenues for providing more social, affordable, and diverse housing in the context of urban renewal and precincts to accommodate Queensland's expanding population.
New Place Renewal powers have been introduced that will support a more coordinated and collaborative approach in complex precincts to drive better outcomes.
The amendments create a more agile, standalone organisation with a Chief Executive Officer and skills-based board accountable to the (MEDQ) which can respond quickly to changing market circumstances.
The amendments also provide operational refinements to existing functions and powers for better clarity for industry and stakeholders, and to provide greater flexibility for the MEDQ to respond to emerging planning issues.
The amendments will help meet the Homes for Queenslanders target of 1 million new homes by 2046 and contribute to the Australian Government’s National Housing Accord target of 1.2 million new, well-located homes across Australia by 2029.
As a result of these amendments, EDQ will deliver an extra 1,300 dwellings within the next five years. It will also approve a further 15,000 homes in Priority Development Areas (PDAs) which is a 117 per cent increase.
To improve EDQ’s capacity to deliver more housing and government’s priorities, EDQ will transition towards securing its long-term financial sustainability by adopting a Financial Framework which reflects a transparent allocation of EDQ resources against activities. While not part of the legislative amendments, a new regulatory fee schedule that reflects a full cost recovery model is being proposed. The new fees will be phased-in over a 2-year period for existing PDAs starting from January 2025 and fully adopted from inception of new PDAs in 2024.
All existing and new staff are employed under the Public Sector Act 2022 with existing rights and entitlements retained.
See media release for more information.
Fact Sheets
Further information on the overarching amendments can be found in this Fact Sheet.
The following Fact Sheets provide additional information on the specific amendments:
Key Area Amendments
- Fact Sheets No.2 Third Party Housing Agreements
- Fact Sheets No.3 Conditioning Social and Affordable Housing
- Fact Sheets No.4 Place Renewal Areas
- Fact Sheets No.5 Corporate Structure and functions
Operational Amendments
- Fact Sheets No.6 Land Acquisition Powers
- Fact Sheets No.7 Directions Powers
- Fact Sheets No.8 Infrastructure Chargers
- Fact Sheets No.9 Effectiveness and Efficiency Amendments
- Fact Sheets No.10 Regulatory Service Fees
Further information
To learn more about the amendments, or for further information, please contact Economic Development Queensland at contact@edq.qld.gov.au.
Economic Development Regulation
On 20 September 2024, the Economic Development (affordable housing) Amendment Regulation 2024 (the Amendment Regulation) was made, amending the Economic Development Regulation 2023 (ED Regulation) to support the MEDQ functions and powers for affordable housing under the ED Act.
The Amendment Regulation prescribes criteria for housing that is affordable to the following types of households:
- very low income households,
- low to moderate income households,
- first home buyer households,
- key worker households.
From 7 June 2024 to 5 July 2024, EDQ publicly consulted on the proposed amendments to the ED Regulation Affordable Housing Criteria Policy Paper. A submissions report has been prepared by EDQ detailing how submissions were considered in the making of the Amendment Regulation.
The Amendment Regulation is an important step in establishing the regulatory framework to govern the provision of affordable housing under the ED Act. It enables EDQ to progress to the next stages of implementation including setting affordable housing requirements in PDA development schemes, where required, and preparing guidance material to support implementation. EDQ is committed to engaging and working with industry and other stakeholders throughout this process.
Last updated: 23 September 2024