LUPAA (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill 2026

For further information about how legislation is amended see: How legislation changes

The draft Bill proposes several amendments to the Land Use Planning and Approvals Act 1993 (LUPAA) and a single amendment to the Local Government (Building and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1993 (LGBMPA).

It is important that the planning legislation is regularly reviewed and that improvements are introduced when needed. Various improvements have been identified in consultation with the main operators of the planning system. The amendments are considered important for urgent attention to clarify processes.

The draft Bill includes a variety of amendments that improve SPPs amendments processes, clarify requirements related to the TPPs and the assessment of development applications, and provide for fairer LPS and LPS amendment assessments processes for when the TPPs and new regional land use strategies are introduced.

Maps in the Tasmanian Planning Scheme (TPS) identify where certain zones, codes or other requirements apply. At present all overlay maps in the TPS are contained in each council’s LPS, including maps for the various natural hazards (i.e. landslip, bushfire, coastal erosion and coastal inundation) generated by the Tasmanian Government. This was intentional at the time as it was important to link the public consultation on the overlay maps with the zoning maps contained in each LPS when the TPS was first brought into effect.

Including some overlay maps in the SPPs, particularly those for natural hazards, would provide a more streamlined approach for introducing new and updated statewide maps.

Closer scrutiny of the LUPAA has revealed that the SPPs cannot include a map or overlay map. The draft Bill includes an amendment to the LUPAA to allow for the SPPs to include a map, overlay, list or other provision that identifies the spatial application of the SPPs.

This amendment would allow the timely implementation of the updated landslip hazard maps as an SPPs amendment. It also provides the option for the future statewide flood-prone areas overlay created from the State Emergency Service’s Strategic Flood Mapping Project to be implemented as an SPPs amendment.

The LUPAA was amended in 2021 to allow the making of interim SPPs amendments. Interim SPPs amendments have immediate effect while they go through the public consultation and independent assessment process run by the Commission. They remain in effect for up to 12 months, or until the amendment has been finally approved following the Commission’s assessment process.

The LUPAA currently provides a narrow scope for making interim SPPs amendments. Interim SPPs amendments can only be made if the Minister is satisfied, after receiving advice from the Commission, they address specific issues stated in LUPAA, or a circumstance or matter prescribed by the Land Use Planning and Approvals Regulations 2024.

Broadening the scope for making interim SPPs amendments would enable more immediate changes across a range of planning issues.

The draft Bill proposes to amend the LUPAA to allow the Minister to issue an Interim SPPs amendment on any other matter recommended by the Commission. The Minister will still be required to be satisfied that the interim SPPs amendment is 'necessary or desirable in order to urgently address issues…' and that 'it is in the public interest to give effect as soon as practicable to the provision'. This is similar to the interim planning directive process which operated prior to the introduction of the TPS.

The current LUPAA provisions for the implementation of the TPPs into the LPS amendments are unnecessarily complex. Essentially, what needs to be demonstrated is that an LPS amendment is consistent with the TPPs.

The draft Bill introduces a simpler requirement for the assessment of LPS amendments against the TPPs, which is similar to State Policies.

Savings provisions are legal clauses that ‘save’ existing requirements when new ones come into effect.

The TPPs and the declaration of the new RLUSs will occur when some LPS amendments are part way through the assessment process. The introduction of savings provisions will provide a fairer assessment process for these LPS amendments.

The draft Bill specifies that a draft LPS amendment is assessed against the version of the TPPs or RLUS that was in effect when the draft LPS amendment is certified by the council as being in accordance with the LUPAA. Certification of a draft LPS amendment is effectively when the formal assessment process commences. This provides for a clear delineation point, providing greater certainty in the assessment process and making it fairer for all parties involved in the assessment process.

The current requirements in the LUPAA will continue to apply until the Bill comes into effect.

This means that the savings provisions related to the application of the TPPs to draft LPS amendments will only become applicable once the Bill is passed by Parliament and given Royal Assent.

No. The draft Kingborough LPS is not yet made and therefore the TPS does not apply in that municipality. The LUPAA already specifies that the TPPs do not apply to the initial approval of a draft LPS. The draft Bill also specifies that the assessment of the draft Kingborough LPS is made against the version of the Southern Tasmanian Regional Land Use Strategy (STRLUS) that was in effect when the council provided its report to the Commission on submissions received during public exhibition (23 July 2025). This also applies to LPS amendments that are directed by the Commission under section 35KB of the LUPAA as part of draft Kingborough LPS assessment process. This means that the draft Kingborough LPS will continue to be assessed against the current version of STRLUS.

This provides a consistent policy and strategic framework for the completion of the assessment of the Kingborough LPS and a fairer process for all parties involved.

Section 57(5AA) of the LUPAA allows for an extension of time for the public consultation period of a discretionary application if the planning authority’s office is closed during normal business hours. That same extension of time is currently not added to council’s statutory timeframe for having to make a decision on the development application.

To provide greater equity in the process, the draft Bill proposes to extend the time for a council to make a decision on the development application for the same number of days that the council office was closed.

The LGBMPA deems a lease of land exceeding, or capable of exceeding, 10 years to be subdivision. This means that the lease is subject to the requirements for the approval of a plan of subdivision under Part 3 Division 2 of the LGBMPA and the TPS.

There are unintended consequences with deeming long-term leases to be subdivision, particularly for renewable energy and other utilities infrastructure.

The draft Bill modifies the definition of ‘subdivision’ by excluding leases for telecommunications or digital facilities, renewable energy infrastructure or other utility infrastructure from being considered ‘subdivision’. Similar changes have also been implemented in some other Australian states. There is a broader work program to review and repeal the LGBMPA.