Queensland’s Parliament last night passed the State Development and Public Works Organisation (Critical Minerals) and Other Legislation Amendment Act, concentrating sweeping powers over land access and project approvals in the hands of the Deputy Premier and Coordinator-General.
The Darling Downs Environment Council joins farmers, graziers, legal experts and community members across Queensland in condemning the lack of genuine consultation before this legislation passed, and in committing to hold the government accountable for how these powers are used.
“This is not a critical minerals issue,” said DDEC spokesperson Ahri Tallon. “What was passed last night is trojan horse framework that lets one Minister in Brisbane decide — for any project type, anywhere in Queensland — that local laws, community rights and property protections can be set aside. That’s a principle that affects everyone, whether you’re a grazier on the Downs or a resident in Toowoomba who cares about what gets built in your neighbourhood.”
The Act allows the Deputy Premier to declare virtually any project a State Strategic Project — encompassing mining, infrastructure, gas extraction, weapons testing, tourism and more — unlocking compulsory land acquisition, forced land access, and the power to modify or switch off existing approval requirements, including protections for prime agricultural land.
DDEC supported last Thursday’s community forum in Toowoomba, convened by Save Our Darling Downs, Property Rights Australia and AgForce, where farmers and community members packed the room to understand what the laws would mean for their properties and their rights.
Liza Balmain, Cecil Plains farmer and Save Our Darling Downs spokesperson, said: “Prime agricultural land is now at much greater risk under these laws, including from coal seam gas. We have been asking for protections to be strengthened — the Crisafulli Government has delivered the opposite.”
DDEC echoes the coalition’s call for a firm public commitment from the government that coal seam gas projects on the Darling Downs cannot use the new State Strategic Project framework to bypass assessment hurdles for prime agricultural land.
The passage of this Act is part of a pattern DDEC has been tracking closely. The same Minister overrode Ipswich City Council’s biodiversity protections in 2025, stripped environmental protections from most of Gympie’s rural-zoned land in early 2026, and removed the regional interests framework protecting the Condamine Alluvium from coal seam gas impacts in June of this year. Toowoomba’s own planning scheme — which community members spent years developing — now goes to the State Government in October, and the risk of the same override is real and immediate.
“Whether it’s a farmer’s property on the Condamine or the tree canopy in Highfields, the principle is the same,” said Ahri Tallon. “The people who live on and know a place should have a genuine say in what happens to it — not find out it’s been decided for them in Brisbane. That’s what we’re fighting for on both fronts.”
DDEC is supporting a Queensland parliamentary e-petition calling for exhaustive published criteria for any declaration of state significance, written reasons for every such decision, and the restoration of judicial review, independent appeal rights and local government planning autonomy. We encourage community members, landholders and Toowoomba residents to sign.
We thank the Katter’s Australia Party, the Labor Party, the Greens and the Independent for Noosa for voting against the Bill.
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