Infrastructure charges legislative changes revealed

Infrastructure charges legislative changes revealed

Infrastructure charges legislative changes revealed

ADC congratulates the Queensland State Government on its Infrastructure Charges Legislative Reforms.  Please see below for the key amendments.  ADC is however disappointed that the Queensland State Government appears to have missed an opportunity to reduce the current State wide cap of $28,000 for new properties being developed.  These charges create an unnecessary surcharge on new land and product produced by the development industry.  Queensland’s Infrastructure Charges are currently well above the southern States of Australia.  ADC calls on the Newman Government to take action on reducing Infrastructure Charges which are basically a very large tax on growth and investment in Queensland.  This tax on growth and investment jeopardises Queensland’s economic potential moving forward.  Please see below article from the UDIA Member Alert dated the 12th of  May 2014.

 

Infrastructure charges legislative changes revealed

The Sustainable Planning (Infrastructure Charges) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2014 was introduced into State Parliament late last week and at first review appears to deliver a number of changes that will provide greater certainty to the industry and, in some instances, lower cost for developers and home buyers. However the Institute is disappointed that it will not be mandatory for local governments to reduce excessive taxes on new home buyers.

 

Key legislative changes to take effect on 1 July* include:

  1. Clearer rules relation to the provision of credits, offsets and refunds
  2. Mandatory ‘cross-crediting’ across infrastructure networks
  3. Mandating  credits for existing use rights
  4. Availability of offsets and refunds at actual value rather than ‘planned value’
  5. The ability to apply infrastructure ‘deemed’ as trunk, even if it has not been identified as trunk
  6. The ability to issue a new adopted infrastructure charges notice in response to permissible change
  7. Third party interrogation of local governments infrastructure plans

 

*New arrangements will generally apply to development applications lodged after 1 July 2014 as well as existing applications that are undecided at 1 July 2014.

The UDIA (Qld) was instrumental in ensuring a review of the infrastructure charges framework was placed highly on the Queensland Government’s agenda.

The introduction of the bill into Parliament follows the Deputy Premier’s announcement on the future of the infrastructure charges in April. A copy of the UDIA (Qld)’s official media statement in response to the Deputy Premier’s announcement can be viewed here.  A statement by the Deputy Premier accompanying the introduction of the Bill can be found here.

The Institute will be reviewing the Bill in detail providing a formal submission to the Parliament’s State Development, formal submission to the Parliament’s State Development, Infrastructure and Industry Committee by the deadline of Friday 16 May 2014, if you would like to contribute, please provide your comments to Economic Research and Policy Director Duncan Maclaine on email [email protected] or call 07 3233 2727 by Thursday 15 may 2014.

 

Infrastructure charges … find out how they will impact you

To find out more about how the Sustainable Planning (Infrastructure Charges) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2014 will affect your area of business, the UDIA (Qld) has arranged for a series of informative sessions to be held throughout Queensland. The first event will be held in Brisbane on Thursday and includes presentations from expert speakers and decision makers. Date claimers for the selected regions are as below and further information will be announced later this week.

Date Claimers

  • Tuesday 27 May – Sunshine Coast (8.30am – 10.30)
  • Thursday 29 May – Mackay (12.15 – 2.30pm)
  • Friday 30 May – Rockhampton (8.30 – 10.30)
  • Wednesday 4 June – Gold Coast (8.30am – 10.30)
  • Wednesday 11 June – Townsville (2.30pm – 4.30pm)
  • Thursday 12 June – Cairns (8.30am – 10.30)
  • Wednesday 18 June – Bundaberg (8.30 – 10.30)
  • Wednesday 18 June – Hervey Bay (2.30-4.30pm)
  • Tuesday 24 June – Gladstone (8.30am – 10.30)
  • Thursday 26 June – Toowoomba (12.00pm – 2.00pm)

 

No amendments to the State Planning Regulatory Provision

The State Government has announced that there will be no amendments to the State Planning Regulatory Provision (Adopted Charges), and as a result, maximum infrastructure charge rates will not change and continue from 1 July 2014.The Deputy Premier said that the introduction of the scheme will ensure that that right balance is struck between encouraging developments and providing a new funding stream for catalytic infrastructure.

 

An excerpt from the Deputy Premier’s speech to parliament last week regarding this new co-investment program is as follows –

“The current maximum charges will remain as they are… But the introduction of a new fair value schedule of charges and a Priority Development Infrastructure Co-investment Program will ensure that the right balance is struck between encouraging developments and providing a new funding stream for a catalytic infrastructure.

Fair value charges will be generally 10 per cent below the non- residential caps

Local governments and water distributor – retailers that reduce charges below these fair value levels will have access to a new funding stream to support infrastructure delivery. Those that refuse to use the fair value schedule will not be considered.”

The UDIA (Qld) will be engaging the State Government over the coming weeks to ensure that this Priority Development Infrastructure Co- Investment program is adequately funded; well- designed and, most importantly, ensures local governments are engaged.

 

Credit: UDIA, Member Alert, 12 May 2014