Queensland to move data centre approvals from councils to the State

Queensland will strip local councils of the job of planning and assessing data centre applications, the State Government has announced, with the new system due to begin in the coming weeks. The Government said the arrangements will follow the reforms it made for renewable energy projects. It argues that many council planning schemes say nothing about data centres, leading to confusion and inconsistent results.

No detail has been released, but the Government has signalled it will borrow from the approval pathway built for renewables. That pathway rests on two instruments. Part 6B of the Planning Act 2016 (Qld), in force since 18 July 2025, covers social impact assessment reports and community benefit agreements, and lets a regulation specify which development it applies to. The Planning Regulation 2017 (Qld) lists that development, at present wind farms, solar farms from 1MW and battery storage from 50MW, and designates the State Assessment and Referral Agency (SARA) as assessment manager. Since a regulation can be changed without passing legislation, data centres could be added fairly quickly.

Under the renewables model, applications are impact assessable against State codes. A missing or inadequate community benefit agreement cannot by itself justify refusal, unless the Minister has called the application in. The chief executive can waive the social impact assessment report or the agreement, and can send stalled negotiations to mediation.

If that model is applied, developers would do more work before lodging, including a social impact assessment report and a community benefit agreement that must exist before an application is properly made. The agreement is struck with the local council and with any neighbouring council whose community is affected. Mandatory impact assessment would apply, and submitters would gain third-party appeal rights, though not over community benefit conditions imposed under s 65AA. For new applications, subject to transitional arrangements, councils would stop being assessment manager but would stay party to the community benefit agreement.

The final framework would still need to define which projects are captured, including any size threshold, the assessment requirements and the treatment of existing applications, probably through an amending regulation and transitional provisions. One live case is Zerra DC's Western Downs Digital Park near Dalby, which Western Downs Regional Council is currently assessing. The project is valued at about $32 billion, and Anthropic has signed to lease the first of four planned buildings. Mayor Andrew Smith has said the State assured the council that it will remain assessment manager for the project, and the council has not set a firm date for its decision.