The Queensland Government has a proposal to formalise social impact assessment and mandate the provision of community benefits, which we have provided a submission response to.

RE-Alliance generally welcomes the proposal to formalise social impact assessment and mandate the provision of community benefits. However, we are concerned by the expectation that these requirements will mean it takes longer for renewable energy projects to be assessed under the planning system. The proposed changes must not put at risk the ability for Queensland to gain the economic benefits arising from the shift to renewable energy for regional development and electricity consumers.

We make the following recommendations in relation to the Planning (Social Impact and Community Benefit) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2025 and the Planning (Social Impact and Community Benefit) and Other Legislation Amendment Regulation 2025:

1. The Queensland Government should progress the development of Renewable Energy Zones as a matter of urgency.
2. Ensure that social impact assessment and community benefit agreements apply equally across different industries by ensuring any developments with significant social impacts are required to complete a social impact assessment and agree a community benefit agreement prior to application, where that is not already required.
3. The Solar Farm Development Code should only apply where the solar farm size is at least 5 MW, with no minimum hectare threshold.
4. There should be clear requirements for community engagement with social impact assessments and community benefits agreements, including appropriate public submission processes.
5. It should be made clear that obligations for social impact mitigation, as outlined through a social impact assessment, are separate from, and additional to, the obligations for developing a community benefit agreement. If that is not the Queensland Government’s intention, the required agreements should be renamed as impact mitigation agreements and proponents should be required to provide community benefit in a way that is appropriate for the local area.
6. The Queensland Government should develop a guideline to clarify what appropriately forms part of a community benefit agreement and ensure that communities are able to have meaningful input into the content of individual community benefit agreements.
7. The Queensland Government should make it clear that proponents are able to enter into community benefit sharing arrangements with local communities, outside the formal community benefit agreements.
8. The Queensland Government should clarify that neighbour payments should be additional to community benefit agreements with local councils.
9. The Queensland Government should clarify what scale of change to social impact assessments, community benefit agreements or project proposals is required for projects to be subject to further community consultation.
10. The Queensland Government should fund, starting from the Queensland state 2025/26 budget, support to increase the capacity of communities, local councils and state government assessment agencies to effectively and efficiently manage new legislative provisions relating to social impact assessment and community benefits.
11. The Queensland Government should advocate to the Federal Government to fund Local Energy Hubs.
12. The Queensland Government should invest in First Nations liaison officers and undertake proactive cultural heritage mapping to strengthen engagement with First Nations communities.
13. Additional clarity should be provided on when it is necessary for a proponent to enter into a community benefit agreement beyond the project area.
14. Guidance should be provided to local councils and proponents on how community benefit agreements should incorporate consideration of any changes to project scale that arise as a consequence of project approval decisions.
15. Include Battery Energy Storage Systems projects above at least 5 MW within the community benefits scheme.
16. Review the Bill and Regulation to ensure that it will remain possible for Renewable Energy Zones to underpin regional benefit sharing and/or other forms of regional community benefit arrangements to deliver fair, transparent, accountable and defensible multi-project and/or region-wide benefit schemes.
17. Ensure that all community benefit agreements are publicly accessible.
18. Further consideration should be given to circumstances where it may be appropriate to mandate mediation in relation to community benefit agreements and impose a maximum timeframe on the negotiation and mediation processes.
19. Exemptions to the new social impact assessment and community benefit agreement requirements for existing applications should be considered where proponents have already conducted equivalent social impact assessment and committed to appropriate community benefit contributions.

Read more in our full submission.