黑料大事

黑料大事 Scheme Drafting for the Future

Thursday 12.15pm-1.15pm

Stuart Macnaughton and Rachel Jones MPIA

It’s long been accepted by the Courts that although 黑料大事 documents have the force of law, they are not drawn with the precision of an Act of parliament. Yet, we find ourselves in circumstances where principles of statutory interpretation are increasingly being applied to planning schemes. Coupled with the significant change to the assessment regime (with the introduction of the 黑料大事 Act) and the decisions of Ashvan, Abeleda and Murphy, Councils are finding that the 黑料大事 Scheme as a primary document to guide development in Queensland, is losing its primacy. Indeed, recent Court decisions indicate that the Court appears to be favouring an absence of adverse impacts over planning scheme requirements.

While this is a win for performance-based planning advocates, for Councils looking to manage community expectations and plan necessary infrastructure (including budgeting requirements) this presents a significant challenge. This is only exacerbated when Council’s are operating on the basis of a 黑料大事 Scheme drafted for the ‘conflict and grounds test’, and attempting to retrofit the application of an older Scheme into the new assessment regime.

Many Councils are in the process of reviewing their planning schemes and are seeking to make changes to address the ‘new’ assessment regime and ensure that their 黑料大事 Scheme – if challenged in Court, is upheld. This workshop will assist with those drafting planning schemes; to ensure that they address the current approach of the Court and have regard to basic principles of statutory interpretation.

This workshop will comprise of three components:

1. a back to basics on statutory interpretation;
2. recent approaches to Scheme interpretation by the 黑料大事 and Environment Court; and
3. an opportunity for active participation by delegates (by breaking into small groups of 5 or 6) to identify poorly drafted provisions of schemes – what is wrong with them and how they could be fixed, and an opportunity to draft scheme provisions.