Submissions open on the draft FNQ Regional Plan 2025!

In Queensland, Regional Plans are long-term, strategic planning documents that guide how a region will grow, change, and respond to development pressures. Under the statute framework in Queensland, regional plans set out land-use policies and spatial maps that local governments must follow when preparing their own planning schemes.

The new Draft Far North Queensland Regional Plan 2025, released 12 November 2025, is the latest review of the previous FNQ Regional Plan 2009.

The Draft Far North Queensland Regional Plan 2025 recognises important regional values like the Great Barrier Reef, the Wet Tropics and our unique communities. But it fails to adequately prepare the region for a future shaped by climate change.

The draft does not mention climate change at all, despite the rising frequency and severity of natural disasters, and despite the existing 2009 Regional Plan referencing climate change more than 100 times. Without acknowledging what is driving increased hazards, the plan cannot properly address the growing risks to our communities.

We are also concerned that the plan removes an Acknowledgement of Country, despite highlighting the globally significant environments that the First Nations people of Far North Queensland have cared for more than 60,000 years.

Finally, the consultation period has been halved and scheduled over Christmas and the wet season. This limits community participation at the exact time of year when Far North Queenslanders are most affected by heatwaves, cyclones and flooding.

CAFNEC has made a detailed submission on the Draft Far North Queensland Regional Plan 2025, focusing on the parts of the Plan that will have the biggest long-term impact on nature, climate resilience and community wellbeing in our region.

Our submission concentrates on:

• Protecting biodiversity and landscapes across Far North Queensland, including wildlife corridors, Strategic Rehabilitation Areas, and areas connected to the Wet Tropics and Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Areas.

• Stopping further biodiversity loss, by ensuring land use planning is based on the current state of ecosystems and includes clear pathways to recovery, not just protection on paper.

• Planning for climate change, including increasing heat, flooding, cyclones and other natural hazards, so new development does not increase risk to people or nature.

• Keeping nature-based solutions front and centre, such as tree canopy, green space, wetlands and healthy catchments, which protect communities while supporting wildlife.

• Making sure the Plan can actually be delivered, with clear responsibilities, monitoring and accountability, not just high-level aspirations.

You can read CAFNEC’s full submission here if you’d like to dive into the detail.

Key issues for community submissions:

You don’t need to be a planning expert to make a submission. You might like to comment on things like:

• Biodiversity loss: Do you think the Plan does enough to protect wildlife and habitats in Far North Queensland, especially as climate change impacts worsen?

• Climate change and natural hazards: Should the Plan more clearly recognise that risks like flooding, heat and cyclones are increasing, and plan accordingly?

• Tree canopy and green space: Do you support strong, measurable targets for tree cover and urban greening to reduce heat and improve liveability?

• Protection of World Heritage areas: Should areas connected to the Wet Tropics and Great Barrier Reef be protected from all incompatible development, not just certain types?

• Delivery and accountability: Do you think the Plan clearly explains how its goals will be delivered, monitored and reviewed over time?

Community submissions don’t have to be long or technical. Sharing your local knowledge, lived experience and concerns can make a real difference.

Submissions are open until 11:59pm Monday 5 January 2026.

Click here to visit the Queensland Government’s webpage where you can download and read the draft FNQ Regional Plan 2025 and learn more about how to have your say. 

How to make a properly made submission:

Your submission will be considered in finalising the plan if it:

• Is addressed to the Deputy Premier, Minister for State Development, Infrastructure and Planning and Minister for Industrial Relations

• Includes your name, residential or business address and an electronic or postal address

• Is made in writing (and signed if not lodged electronically)

• States the grounds of your submission and the facts supporting those grounds

• Is lodged within the consultation timeframe

You can submit online using the official survey tool, or send submissions via:

Email: FNQRPsubmissions@nulldsdip.qld.gov.au

Post: PO Box 15009, City East QLD 4002

More information is available from the Queensland Government website.