Town Planning Report and Appendices - Cooroibah

The siting and design of the proposal has taken place in accordance with Section
3 (Planning and Siting) of the Australian Standard – Siting of Radio
Communications Facilities (AS 3516.2).

Furthermore, following an assessment of the available options, it became
evident that there were no suitable existing telecommunications facilities or
other structures (including buildings or power poles) located within the search
area that could provide the required site objective or co-location opportunities.

          The Telecommunications (Low-impact Facilities) Determination 1997

The Telecommunications (Low-impact Facilities) Determination 1997 identifies
both the type of facilities that can be “Low-impact”, and the areas in which these
facilities can be installed. Importantly, this current facility is not defined as a
“low impact facility” and is therefore subject to State and Territory Planning
Laws and Regulation. In this specific instance, the provisions of the Sustainable
Planning Act 2009 and The Noosa Plan will be applicable to the proposal.

          The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999

The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act 1999
obliges telecommunications carriers to consider ‘matters of national
environmental significance’. Under this legislation, an action will require approval
from the Minister of Environment if the action has or is likely to have an impact
on a matter of ‘national environmental significance’. According to the EPBC Act
1999, there are seven matters of national significance which must be
considered.

All relevant EPBC matters have been considered. It is not anticipated that the
proposal will have a significant impact on any matters of national environmental
significance. Accordingly, approval from the Minister of Environment is not
required in this instance.

6.2 Queensland Planning Legislation and Guidelines
As identified in Section 6.1.3 of this report, the proposed facility does not fall
within the definition for ‘low impact’ facility under the Telecommunications (Low-
impact Facilities) Determination 1997. Therefore, it is subject to State planning
instruments and regulation in addition to the Commonwealth regulatory
framework.

There are a number of State Government provisions which could potentially
apply to the proposed nbn facility. These include:

   •      The Sustainable Planning Act 2009;
   •      Regional Plan;
   •      State Planning Regulatory Provisions;
   •      State Planning Policy;


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