Glossary

Understand key terms used by the Office of the Coordinator-General and included on this website.

Term	Definition
approvals	Approvals, authorisations, permits, designations, licences or other instruments that approve development or works under state law.
Acquisition of Land Act	Acquisition of Land Act 1967
common user facility	A facility or infrastructure that is designed to be shared by multiple users under a defined set of terms. The facility can encompass a wide range of infrastructure, including easements, transport, utilities, and port facilities to share capacity and resources, leading to potential cost savings, increased competition, and more efficient use of resources.
compensation	Compensation is the amount of money paid to the landowner and other interested parties as a result of the land being resumed (or, in some cases, the works carried out). Compensation covers: value of the land resumed damage caused by the severance of a part/s of a property damage to other land caused by use of statutory powers disturbance costs – defined in section 20 of the Acquisition of Land Act.
compliance	The process of monitoring, managing and, where relevant, enforcing conditions that have been documented in a Coordinator-General's: evaluation report on the environmental impact statement for a coordinated project evaluation report on the impact assessment report for a coordinated project change report for a coordinated project material change of use approval for a coordinated project in a state development area an evaluation report on the social impact assessment (under s11(2) of the Strong and Sustainable Resource Communities Act 2017) a report that includes an evaluation of the potential social impacts of a large resource project under the SSRC Act, or the Environmental Protection Act 1994.
Coordinator-General	The corporation sole constituted under section 8A of the State Development and Public Works Organisation Act 1938 and preserved, continued in existence and constituted under section 8 of the SDPWO Act.
coordinated project	A coordinated project means the project requires a rigorous impact assessment involving whole-of-government coordination by the Coordinator-General, either by a comprehensive environmental impact statement or a targeted impact assessment report.
compulsory land acquisition	The Coordinator-General can compulsorily acquire land for: undertaking works State development areas other purposes.
critical infrastructure project	The Minister considers the project is critical or essential for the state for economic, environmental or social reasons to enable the Minister to register a critical infrastructure easement over existing public utility easements.
critical infrastructure easement	When projects are declared a critical infrastructure project, the registration of a critical infrastructure easement ensures the existing public utility easement holder cannot exercise any rights that would interfere with the rights given under the critical infrastructure easement. It does not extinguish the existing public utility easement.
declaration	A formal or explicit statement or announcement. Coordinator-General declarations, such as coordinated projects, State development areas and prescribed projects are made by the Minister and Governor in Council and published in the Queensland Government Gazette.
environment	Includes: ecosystems and their parts, including people and communities all natural and physical resources the qualities and characteristics of locations, places and areas, however large or small, that contribute to their biological diversity and integrity, intrinsic or attributed scientific value or interest, amenity, harmony and sense of community the social, economic, aesthetic and cultural conditions that affect, or are affected by the things mentioned above.
environmental impact assessment	A process used to evaluate the potential social, environmental, and economic impacts of a proposed project. It aims to identify and assess potential environmental consequences before a decision is made about whether to proceed with a project.
environmental impact statement (EIS)	A report to assess the potential adverse and beneficial environmental, economic and social impacts of the project. An EIS should have sufficient information to: assess management, monitoring, planning and other measures proposed to minimise any adverse environmental impacts of the project and for the proponent to prepare environmental management plan(s) consider feasible alternative ways to carry out the project contain enough information for the proponent to prepare well-informed environmental management plan(s) contain sufficient information for commonwealth and state authorities to assess the project and develop relevant recommended, stated and/or imposed conditions of approval.
environmental value	Consistent with section 9 of the Environmental Protection Act 1994, means: a quality or physical characteristic of the environment that is conducive to ecological health or a quality or physical characteristic of the environment that is conducive to public health, safety or amenity or a quality or physical characteristic of the environment that contributes to its biological diversity and integrity, intrinsic or attributed scientific value or interest, amenity, harmony and sense of community or another quality of the environment identified and declared to be an environmental value under an environmental protection policy or regulation.
EP Act	Environment Protection Act 1994
fly-in, fly-out (FIFO)	The practice of hiring workers from a place that is not a nearby regional community, to engage in long distance commuting by aeroplane, or another means, to work. A worker who travels to the project by aeroplane, or another means, from a place that is not a nearby regional community, for the project, to work.
Governor in Council	The Governor acting on the advice of the Executive Council. For more information, read the Governor in Council and Executive Council in Queensland fact sheet ( 192 KB).
impact assessment report (IAR)	A report that focuses on the locations of a project that may be subject to adverse impacts if not appropriately managed, potential impacts that are either uncertain, or proposed mitigation measures that depart from accepted management practices or standard conditions for that industry.
initial advice statement (IAS)	A scoping document that provides information on the: size and nature of the proposed project environment in and around the project location scale and extent of the project's potential environmental impacts any proposed measures to mitigate potential adverse impacts. The IAS helps the Coordinator-General determine whether the project in question should be declared a coordinated project and the level of assessment required (i.e. EIS or IAR).
infrastructure	Those facilities, services and utilities that, in the opinion of the Coordinator-General, are required by or associated with a development or works and includes training schemes relevant to, and accommodation required for a work force related to a development or works and facilities, services and utilities required by or associated with such training schemes or accommodation.
infrastructure facility	Includes any of the following: a road, railway, bridge or other transport facility a jetty or port an airport, landing strip or spaceport an electricity generation, transmission or distribution facility a storage, distribution or gathering or other transmission facility for oil or gas or derivatives of oil or gas a storage or transportation facility for coal, any other mineral or any mineral concentrate a dam, water storage facility, pipeline, channel or other water management, distribution or reticulation facility a cable, antenna, tower or other communication facility infrastructure for health or educational services.
land	Includes any estate or interest in land, and any easement, right, power or privilege in, over, or in connection with land, and any wharf.
land use planning instruments	Any applicable local government planning scheme, development scheme for a State development area, land use plan for strategic port land, development schemes or interim land use plans for a priority development area or other land use planning document that regulates development and land use of the site.
land resumption	The Coordinator-General can resume land with any type of tenure, including freehold. The Coordinator-General can resume: all of a property part of a property an easement over a property native title rights and interests resource interests.
large resource projects	Large resource projects are those resource projects for which an environmental impact statement is required, or that hold a site-specific environmental authority and have 100 or more workers, or a smaller workforce decided by the Coordinator-General.
local body	A local body may be a state government agency, local government or a government-owned corporation responsible for providing approvals, permits or authorities.
material change of use	Includes: the start of a new use of the premises or the re-establishment on the premises of a use that has been abandoned or a material increase in the intensity or scale of the use of the premises.
matters of national environmental significance (MNES)	The 9 matters protected by the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999: world heritage properties national heritage places wetlands of international importance (‘Ramsar Wetlands’) nationally threatened species and ecological communities migratory species Commonwealth marine areas the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park nuclear actions (including uranium mining) a water resource in relation to coal seam gas development and large coal mining development.
matters of state environmental significance	As defined in Queensland Government State Planning Policy. For the purpose of environmental offsets, prescribed environmental matters – matters of state environmental significance are defined in schedule 2 of the Environmental Offsets Regulation 2014.
notice of intention to resume	Written notice used to commence a compulsory land acquisition process, that sets out: the land or easement required (lot on a plan of survey, or a map that sufficiently describes the land – an about plan) purpose for which the land is required rights and obligations to be imposed by the easement (if applicable) right to object.
Planning Act	Planning Act 2016
prescribed project	A prescribed project is one which is of significance, particularly economically and socially, to Queensland or a region. Declaring a prescribed project enlivens the Coordinator-General’s powers to intervene in state and local government approval processes to ensure timely decision-making in relation to prescribed processes and prescribed decisions. A prescribed process is a process required to be undertaken under a law of the state including, for example, a process in a stage of the development assessment system under the Planning Act. A prescribed decision is a decision required to be made under a law of the state, for example, a development approval under the Planning Act.
project footprint	The physical area (above and below ground) occupied by the project and includes all buffers, accesses and temporary areas that support the project.
properly made submission	A submission that: is made to the Coordinator-General in writing and is received on or before the last day of the relevant submission period and is signed by each person who made the submission and states the name and address of each person who made the submission and states the grounds of the submission and the facts and circumstances relied on in support of the grounds. This applies for a: draft terms of reference draft EIS draft IAR proposed change to a coordinated project protected matters report SDA application or request an amendment application.
resource authority	Any of the listed authorities as listed in Section 10 of the Mineral and Energy Resources (Common Provisions) Act 2014.
social impact assessment (SIA)	A process for the identification, analysis, assessment, management and monitoring of the potential social impacts of a project, both positive and negative. The social impacts of a project are the direct and indirect impacts that affect people and their communities during all stages of the project lifecycle.
State development area (SDA)	A part of the state or of an area over which the state claims jurisdiction, delineated on a plan, and declared under the SDPWO Act to be a State development area.
SDA approval	A decision notice that approves, wholly or partly, development within a State development area, applied for in an SDA application (whether or not the approval has conditions attached to it).
SDA self-assessable development	Development that a relevant approved development scheme provides is SDA self-assessable development.
SDPWO Act	State Development and Public Works Organisation Act 1971
step-in notice	Allows the Coordinator-General (with the Minister's approval) to 'step in' and assume responsibility for assessing and deciding on a project, in place of the decision-maker. The step-in power is similar to the ministerial call-in power under the Planning Act. Unlike the ministerial call-in power, the prescribed project provisions apply to a wider range of decisions and processes including under the Planning Act.
terms of reference (ToR)	A document that sets out the project-specific assessment requirements to be addressed in an EIS for a project under the SDPWO Act.
works	Includes the whole and every part of any work, project, service, utility, undertaking or function that the Coordinator-General, another person on behalf of the Coordinator-General or a local body is authorised under the SDPWO Act to undertake.

Last updated: 25 November 2025