Coastal Management Plan consultation

The Coastal Management Plan (Coastal Plan) is a requirement under section 20 of the Coastal Protection and Management Act 1995 to describe how the coastal zone of Queensland is to be managed.

The Coastal Plan provides the Queensland Government's policy position and sets outcomes for key aspects of coastal management. It is primarily used by local governments who are responsible for managing large areas of public coastal land and can guide coastal management decisions made by State land managers, port authorities and Traditional Owners.

The existing Coastal Plan has been reviewed and updated to focus on policies directly related to coastal management matters that are not dealt with through other legislation and management plans.

Key changes include:

• Updated terminology from ‘climate variability’ to ‘climate change’ as a key pressure on the coastal zone, specifically about permanent inundation of land from sea level rise.
• Introduced the concept of blue carbon ecosystems, such as mangroves and saltmarsh, to highlight their importance as a nature-based solution for climate change mitigation and adaptation, whilst also protecting habitat and biodiversity.
• Updated references to legislation and policies current in 2024. Refined policy content that is managed through other existing policies and legislation and does not require duplication in the Coastal Plan (e.g. water quality and Indigenous cultural heritage policy), however it has been retained in a condensed form within relevant sections due to its importance in coastal management.
• Highlighted the need to shift land uses on State land, including leasehold land, outside coastal hazard areas, where the land use is not consistent with protection of coastal resources or exposes development to impacts from coastal hazards.

Feedback on the new draft Coastal Plan is being sought from stakeholders including the public, coastal local governments, port authorities and port operators.

Your input will inform the development of the final Coastal Plan.

Consultation opened on Friday 27 September and closes on Wednesday 27 November 2024.

How to participate in the consultation

Read the draft Coastal Management Plan.

You can:

• complete the online survey

• email a written submission to coastal.support@des.qld.gov.au, Subject line: Draft Coastal Management Plan consultation

• mail a written submission to the Department of Environment, Science and Innovation, GPO Box 2454, Brisbane QLD 4001 (ATTN: Coastal Planning).

Written submissions must clearly state the part of the draft Coastal Plan the submission relates to, the matter of concern and the reasons why the matter should or shouldn’t be included in the final Coastal Plan.

Contact the department’s Coastal Planning team via 13 QGOV (13 74 68) should you require further information about the draft Coastal Plan or to request a meeting to discuss your submission in more detail.

How to complete the online survey

Set up an In the Loop account. Setting up an account helps protect the integrity of the survey process and the results.

Once your account is set up (or if you already have one), log in and respond to the questions posed. You can save and return to the survey.

Submit your response. Once submitted a copy of your response will be emailed to you.

Privacy statement

Why we request your personal information:

The Department of Environment, Science and Innovation (DESI) uses an online engagement platform to seek feedback on various issues and initiatives. We try to minimise the personal information collected, but we need your name and contact details to register you as a user, which allows you to complete surveys, be kept updated on projects, and to be notified of future activities (if you choose).

The platform we use is called ‘In the loop’, hosted by EngagementHQ, a third-party cloud-based service platform owned and operated by Granicus.

Other questions asking personal information in this survey are optional and you can skip them if you prefer.

All personal information gathered by DESI is treated in accordance with the Information Privacy Act 2009. For further details view the DESI privacy policy.

Please be aware that your de-identified response may be shared with other Queensland Government agencies and Australian Government agencies to help inform future policy developments. Personal information will not be shared.