On 11 September 2026, a package of reforms to Queensland’s State assessment framework commenced. Fewer development applications will be referred to the State Assessment and Referral Agency, the assessment pathway for solar farms and battery storage is placed beyond doubt, and a new version of the State Development Assessment Provisions takes effect.
On 11 September 2026, the Planning Amendment Regulation 2026 commenced, amending the Planning Regulation 2017. On the same day, version 3.7 of the State Development Assessment Provisions (SDAP) took effect. Together they reduce the range of matters referred to the State Assessment and Referral Agency (SARA), confirm the assessment pathway for renewable energy projects, and streamline two State codes.
For developers, referral agencies and local governments, the practical significance lies less in any single change than in the direction of travel. The State is continuing to trim referral triggers and to consolidate the renewable energy framework it built through 2025.
Fewer referrals to SARA
Three of the amendments reduce the circumstances in which a development application must be referred to SARA.
The first removes the referral trigger for premises subject to a Ministerial Infrastructure Designation. A development application over land the subject of a designation made by the Planning Minister will no longer require referral on that basis. Significant changes to such premises are instead managed by the local government as assessment manager, or by the State through the process for amending the designation itself.
The second removes the requirement to refer significant developments to the Office of the Queensland Government Architect for urban design advice. Applications that have not sought advice on urban design outcomes will no longer be referred on that ground.
The third expands the list of prescribed water storage infrastructure. A broader range of water infrastructure assets, including dams, weirs, and storage and detention basins, will no longer require assessment for waterway barrier works. Each of these changes sits within the referral provisions of the Planning Regulation 2017.
The common thread is fewer touchpoints with the State assessment system. For proponents, that should mean shorter assessment timeframes and one fewer agency to satisfy. For local governments, it consolidates the assessment manager role over changes to designated premises.
Certainty for solar farms and battery storage
The Regulation also puts the assessment pathway for renewable energy projects beyond doubt. It confirms that the Chief Executive, acting through SARA, is the assessment manager for relevant solar farms and battery storage facilities. To support that position, the amendments prevent a local categorising instrument, such as a local government planning scheme, from prescribing a relevant solar farm or battery storage facility as assessable development, and refine the existing referral triggers for electricity, oil and gas infrastructure and for the clearing of native vegetation.
This is best understood as the next step in the renewables framework the State assembled through 2025. The community benefit system introduced by the Planning (Social Impact and Community Benefit) and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2025 commenced on 18 July 2025, requiring social impact assessment and community benefit agreements for wind farms and for larger solar farms and battery storage facilities. The Planning (Battery Storage Facilities) and Other Legislation Amendment Regulation 2025 followed on 12 December 2025, confirming SARA as assessment manager for battery storage facilities, supported by State code 27 in the SDAP. The 2026 amendments remove residual ambiguity about who assesses these projects and stop that question being reopened at the local level.
The Regulation includes transitional provisions, and how they work turns largely on one question: when the application was properly made. As a general rule, a development application properly made before 11 September 2026 continues to be assessed under the framework and the version of the SDAP in force when it was made, while an application made on or after that date is assessed under the amended framework and SDAP version 3.7.
Change applications for solar farms and battery storage facilities are given particular attention. These uses moved to State assessment through the 2025 reforms, with the Chief Executive, acting through SARA, taking the assessment manager role and the local categorising instrument losing its ability to make them assessable. An approval granted before those reforms may therefore have been a local government matter, so a later application to change it raises the question of which arrangements apply. The transitional provisions are directed at that question, so that applications and change applications already on foot are dealt with under a settled set of rules rather than being disrupted or re-routed by the sequence of reforms. Proponents with a matter that spans these dates should confirm, against the specific transitional provisions of the Planning Regulation 2017, which assessment manager, categorising instrument and SDAP version govern it, rather than assuming the current arrangements apply automatically.
A new SDAP: version 3.7
Version 3.7 of the SDAP, made on 16 June 2026, commenced with the Planning Amendment Regulation 2026 on 11 September 2026. It makes two substantive changes.
State code 24, which dealt with urban design outcomes for significant projects, has been removed in full. That removal matches the deletion of the urban design advice referral trigger noted above, so the code no longer has work to do.
State code 11, which governs the removal, destruction or damage of marine plants, has been streamlined. Its 25 performance outcomes have been consolidated into seven, refocused on managing the impacts of development rather than prescribing development-specific outcomes, with reference documents and glossary terms reduced accordingly and a new defined term, functional requirement, introduced.
The timing rule matters. SDAP version 3.7 applies to development applications properly made on or after 11 September 2026. Where SARA is a referral agency rather than the assessment manager, the relevant date is the date of the assessment manager’s confirmation notice, which determines whether an application was made before or after commencement and therefore which version of the SDAP applies.
What it means in practice
The changes are largely procedural rather than a shift in planning policy, but they carry immediate consequences. Anyone with a live or imminent application should confirm which version of the SDAP governs it, using the properly-made date or, for referrals, the confirmation notice date. Renewable energy proponents gain welcome certainty on the assessment pathway, but the community benefit and social impact obligations introduced in 2025 remain in place and should not be overlooked. Applicants who would previously have been referred for urban design advice, or on the basis of a Ministerial Infrastructure Designation, should factor the removed referrals into their timeframes and approvals strategy. Those undertaking works affecting marine plants or involving waterway barriers should reassess their applications against the consolidated State code 11 and the expanded list of prescribed water storage infrastructure.
Milne Legal advises applicants, submitters and local governments on State assessment, referral triggers and renewable energy approvals in Queensland. If you have an application on foot or in prospect and want to understand how these changes affect it, we would be glad to assist.
This publication is general in nature. Its content is current at the date of publication. It does not constitute legal advice and you should always seek legal advice based on your particular circumstances prior to making any decisions relating to matters covered by this publication. Certain details may have been sourced from external references, and we cannot assure the accuracy or timeliness of such information.