General information, not legal or environmental advice. In Queensland the official place to check is the state’s vegetation management pages, published by its Department of Natural Resources and Mines, Manufacturing and Regional and Rural Development; in Victoria, Consumer Affairs Victoria points to the state environment department and the local council. All are listed at the foot of this page.
What Queensland means by clearing
Under the state’s vegetation management framework, clearing covers removing, cutting down, ringbarking, pushing over or poisoning vegetation, and destroying it in any other way, burning, flooding and draining included. It does not cover stock eating standing vegetation, or lopping a tree: cutting or pruning its branches, short of taking out the trunk or cutting so hard the tree is likely to die.
Vegetation, for the same purpose, is a native tree or plant, leaving out grass and non-woody herbage, plants in a regional ecosystem the state’s database records as grassland, and mangroves. The framework itself is the Vegetation Management Act 1999, the Planning Act 2016 and the regulations, policies and codes made under them, and it reaches freehold and leasehold land alike, as well as Indigenous land and occupational licences held under the Land Act 1994.
Four checks before signing
The Queensland Government’s page for people buying or researching a property sets out the searches that show what already applies to a block.
- Read the title for a “veg notice”. A vegetation matter linked to the Vegetation Management Act 1999 appears on the title as an administrative advice, and each one carries its own dealing number. They come in three kinds: property maps of assessable vegetation, restoration notices, and declarations under the Act. The department is the place to ask what a particular one means.
- Order the free property report. All it needs is the lot and plan description and an email address. The report arrives as a PDF, usually within 3 business days, and up to 10 properties can be requested at once. Its maps show the regulated vegetation categories that decide what may be cleared, a supporting map of regional ecosystems, wetlands, watercourses and essential habitat, a trigger map for protected plant surveys, and a koala habitat map. The regulated and supporting maps can also be viewed on the Queensland Globe.
- Look for a property map of assessable vegetation. Section 3.1 of the report shows whether one applies. It is a map at the scale of the property, drawing the boundaries of each vegetation category; once made it amends the state’s regulated map, and it applies to the land itself, so a change of owner does not affect it.
- Read older advices with care. From 1 July 2013 the department stopped recording some matters in the land registry, so an administrative advice placed on a title before then may describe an old referral agency development approval. If that approval carries no lasting conditions on clearing it may now be obsolete, and it can be removed from the title free of charge.
How clearing can lawfully happen
Remnant vegetation and regulated regrowth can be cleared only under one of four assessment categories. Which one applies turns on the purpose of the clearing, the tenure of the land and how the vegetation is mapped.
| Category | Used for | What the landholder does |
|---|---|---|
| Exempt clearing work | Routine property management activities | Neither notifies nor applies |
| Accepted development vegetation clearing codes | Low-risk clearing, such as harvesting fodder or controlling weeds | Notifies the department before clearing, then follows the code |
| Area management plans | Matters no code covers, or a regional approach to one activity such as weed control | Notifies before clearing, then follows the plan |
| Development approval | Where no other category suits, and only for purposes the framework allows | Lodges a development application and obtains approval before starting |
Other laws on the same trees
The framework is not the only rule. The state lists others that can apply to the same clearing.
- Protected plants. Under the Nature Conservation Act 1992, clearing protected native plants may need a clearing permit.
- Koala habitat. These protections apply only to lots in the South East Queensland Regional Plan area with mapped koala habitat, which the property report shows. On such a lot, interfering with koala habitat may need a development approval under the Planning Act 2016.
- The Commonwealth. Clearing that would significantly affect matters of national environmental significance (threatened species are one) may need approval under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.
- The council. Some local governments regulate clearing through local laws or their planning schemes.
Watched from above
The department monitors compliance with satellite imagery, through the Statewide Landcover and Trees Study and an Early Detection System, along with audits and information from the public. Unlawful clearing can bring fines, a requirement to restore the vegetation, or prosecution in more serious cases. The department suggests keeping a record of any clearing, such as a diary and before-and-after photographs taken from recorded locations.
Victoria
Consumer Affairs Victoria’s due diligence checklist raises native vegetation for buyers of rural land: regulations limit clearing on private property, and the state environment department sets out the limits and the lawful ways to clear. The same checklist notes that properties inside the Melbourne Strategic Assessment area carry special requirements for biodiversity conservation.
In bushfire areas CFA explains exemptions that let owners clear around homes and along fences without a planning permit, but it also says some areas have laws protecting native plants and animals, and to check with the council before removing native vegetation or significant trees. Those exemptions, and why a new house on vacant land may not get them, are in Peg E, bushfire and flood overlays. Clearing along a boundary fence is in Peg C, dividing fences.