Anything goes? Performance-based planning and the slippery slope in Queensland planning law

This article explores the first 20 years of performance-based planning in
Queensland, how it has evolved and what it means for the interpretation of
planning schemes. It describes how, over the past 20 years, planning law has
become significantly more discretionary, whether or not that was the intention
of the original drafters of the Integrated Planning Act 1997 (Qld) and whether
or not that is the inevitable result of a system based on performance-based
planning. It demonstrates this thesis with some case examples of discretionary,
performance-based decision-making in practice. It also considers the role the
sufficient grounds test has played in the evolution of this more discretionary
system. It identifies the advantages and disadvantages of a highly
discretionary, planning and development control regime. Overall, it argues that,
more so than any of the procedural reforms to planning law, it is the evolution
of PBP that has played into the hands of developers who wish to prioritise
economic development over and above other planning goals.