Committee Details

About the bill 

On 20 November 2025, the Hon Andrew Powell MP, Minister for the Environment and Tourism and Minister for Science and Innovation introduced the Environmental Protection (Efficiency and Streamlining) and Other Legislation Amendment 2025 (the Bill) into the Queensland Parliament. The Bill was referred to the Health, Environment and Innovation Committee for detailed consideration.

View: Explanatory speech
View: Bill
View: Explanatory Notes
View: Statement of compatibility

The primary policy objective of the Bill is to improve administrative efficiency and ensure the regulatory frameworks within Queensland’s environmental legislation remain contemporary, effective and responsive. Specifically, the Bill amends the: 

• Environmental Protection Act 1994 (EP Act) to reduce regulatory burden, make the Act more responsive to emerging challenges, provide greater clarity and resolve operational issues.
• Waste Reduction and Recycling Act 2011 (WRR Act) to align the timeframes for the commencement of summary proceedings for an offence and the provisions concerning the seizure of property with corresponding amendments to the EP Act.
• Nature Conservation Act 1992 (NC Act) to clarify the definition of ‘protected area’ and to provide investigation powers for conservation officers under the NC Act for offences under the Planning Act 2016 (Planning Act), comparable with other frameworks linked to the Planning Act.
• Water Act 2000 (Water Act) to clarify matters such as timelines for preparation of underground water impact reports (UWIRs) and when land can be accessed under ‘make good’ agreements.
• Forestry Act 1959 (Forestry Act) and the Recreation Areas Management Act 2006 (RAM Act) to deliver a single integrated permission for tourism activities on protected areas, State forests, recreation areas and State marine parks (parks and forests) under the government’s 20-year tourism plan, Destination 2045 - Delivering Queensland’s Tourism Future.

The proposed amendments to the EP Act are designed to make the EP Act more responsive to emerging challenges and include:

• Reframing how environmentally relevant activities (ERA) are identified and regulated. Notably, ERA Codes will be established to regulate certain lower risk ERAs which currently require an Environmental Authorities (EA). The Bill also includes amendments which will see most ERAs designated under regulation. Small scale mining activities will be transitioned to code-managed ERAs, and prescribed conditions, including payment of a surety under the MERFP Act, will no longer apply (with provision for repayment of sureties).
• Clearly identifying Queensland’s significant environmental values to guide the identification of ERAs and the administration of the EP Act, which will be included in a schedule to the EP Regulation.
• Removing duplicative public notification requirements for environmental impact statements (EIS) terms of reference. The requirement to seek public comment on the draft EIS remains.
• Recognising an impact assessment report and associated processes completed under the State Development and Public Works Organisation Act 1971 will satisfy certain requirements in a subsequent EA application.
• Amendments to notification requirements for certain EAs (removing the need for notification where relevant activities were publicly notified though an EIS or impact assessment report, subject to certain exclusions).
• Changes to the Progressive Rehabilitation and Closure Plan (PRCP) Framework in response to identified issues. This includes removing the public interest evaluation process from the PRCP process (and transitional provisions to rescind any ongoing processes) and replacing this with ‘public interest considerations’ (like the elements of the removed public interest evaluation process) within the assessment application requirements.
• Providing a mechanism to codify best practice environmental management.

Further information

Further information including written briefings, correspondence, response to submissions, transcripts and answers to questions taken on notice will be available under the Related Publications tab in due course.

submissions

Submissions closed at 10am on Wednesday 17 December 2025. Submissions will be available on the ‘View Submissions’ tab in due course. 

PUBLIC PROCEEDINGS

The committee held a public briefing on the Bill by officers from the Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation on Wednesday, 10 December 2025. The committee will hold a public hearing and public briefing on Tuesday, 20 January 2026. See the timeline below for further information.

Please note: Only persons/organisations explicitly invited by the committee to appear as a witness will have the opportunity to present evidence at the public hearing. 

Committee’s report

The committee is due to table its report on Friday, 30 January 2026. The report will be published here.

Once the committee’s report has been tabled, the Government has three months to respond to the report’s recommendations (if any). At that time, the Government Response will be published here.

Timeline