Queensland Consolidated Acts

PLANNING ACT 2016 - SECT 48

48 Who is the assessment manager

(1) The
"assessment manager" for a development application is the person prescribed by regulation as the assessment manager for the application.

(2) Subject to part 6 , division 3 , the assessment manager for a properly made application is responsible for—

(a) administering and deciding the application; and

(b) assessing all or part of the application.

(2A) Without limiting subsection (1) , a regulation may prescribe that a person is the assessment manager for a development application that is for part of a particular type of development.

Example—

For building work that must be assessed against the building assessment provisions and is assessable development under a local government’s planning scheme, a regulation may prescribe that—

(a) a private certifier is the assessment manager for a development application for the part of the building work that must be assessed against the building assessment provisions; and

(b) the local government is the assessment manager for a development application for the part of the building work that is assessable development under the planning scheme.

(2B) Subsection (3) applies to a development application that—

(a) is for development that requires code assessment only; and

(b) does not include a variation request.

(3) If—

(a) a regulation prescribes a local government or the chief executive (each
"the entity" ) to be the assessment manager for the development application; and

(b) the entity keeps a list of persons who are appropriately qualified to be an assessment manager in relation to the development the subject of the application; and

(c) the entity has made or amended its code of conduct under the Public Sector Ethics Act 1994 to apply the code of conduct, including provisions about conflicts of interest, to persons on the entity’s list; and

(d) the entity has entered into an agreement with each person on the entity’s list about the person’s functions as an assessment manager that—

(i) requires the person to comply with the code of conduct; and

(ii) provides for the entity to remove the person from the entity’s list if the person fails to comply with the code of conduct; and

(e) a person on the entity’s list enters into an agreement with another person to accept the development application;

the person on the entity’s list is the assessment manager for the development application instead of the prescribed assessment manager for the application.

(4) As soon as practicable after the person accepts the application, the person must give a copy of the application to the prescribed assessment manager.

(5) If a person on an entity’s list of persons kept under subsection (3) is removed from the list because the person has not complied with an agreement under that subsection—

(a) the entity immediately becomes the assessment manager, instead of the person, for any development application for which the person was the assessment manager; and

(b) no extra fee is payable for the application; and

(c) the development assessment process for the application continues from whichever of the following points in the process is the earlier—

(i) the point the application had reached immediately before the person was replaced as the assessment manager;

(ii) 10 business days before the day on which the assessment manager is required, under the development assessment rules, to decide the application.

(6) If a regulation does not prescribe who is the assessment manager for a particular development application, the Minister may—

(a) decide who is the assessment manager; or

(b) require the application to be split into 2 or more applications.

(7) If the Minister decides who is the assessment manager, the Minister may—

(a) decide that a person who could also have been the assessment manager is instead to be a referral agency for the application; and

(b) impose limits on the referral agency’s powers (to the power to only give advice, for example).

(8) The Minister must give notice of the Minister’s decisions under this section to—

(a) the applicant; and

(b) a person that the Minister decides is the assessment manager; and

(c) a person that the Minister decides is a referral agency.

(9) For an application for development that is prescribed tidal works, a local government may exercise an assessment manager’s functions despite any limits on the local government’s powers under—

(a) the City of Brisbane Act , section 11 ; or

(b) the Local Government Act , section 9 .