Thousands of Robina homes in limbo after LNP delays fast track
- Queensland Labor Opposition
- Mar 19
- 3 min read
LNP on go slow with thousands of homes originally fast-tracked by Labor
State Facilitated Development was established to expedite approvals with a focus on affordable and well-located homes
Labor calls for homes to be approved as soon as possible to address mounting housing pressures under LNP
Thousands of homes in Robina sit in limbo despite ongoing housing pressures with the LNP refusing to give them the green light and the Planning Minister threatening in Parliament to cancel them.
This 2,700-plus build-to-sell proposal at Robina was greenlit last year to go through Labor’s new State Facilitated Development Process.
The move was requested by industry, removing barriers for them so they could get builders on-site quicker on the condition the project included affordable housing.
The site had an existing approval from council to deliver housing on three building pads, however this fast-track approval pathway allowed the developer to add more houses on the condition that at least 15 per cent were affordable.
The proposal has since sat in Planning Minister Jarrod Bleijie’s department for six months while the LNP passed new laws to give the Minister the power to cancel projects like this.
The outcome of the LNP Deputy Leader telling developers to go back to their original plan will mean no affordable housing is conditioned as part of this project.
It also comes after the LNP cancelled hundreds of homes in the Housing Minister’s community on the Gold Coast, as well as cuts to funding for homelessness services across the state.
Under Labor’s SFD process, more than a quarter of the homes were to be affordable, and any approved project would need to have shovels in the ground within two years.
The Robina project is one of eleven projects expected to unlock nearly 5,000 homes were put on a new planning fast-track – the State Facilitated Development process - by Labor late last year to get approvals within 75 days.
Projects included and a 45-home project at Wakerley put forward by the Catholic Church, a 525-home development in Indooroopilly, a 300-unit project at Milton, as well as housing developments in Redland Bay, Forest Lake, Toowoomba, Lutwyche, Pallara, Tewantin, Noosa Heads and Woolloongabba.
Quotes attributable to Deputy Opposition Leader and Shadow Planning Minister Cameron Dick:
“Labor fast-tracked these projects - now Jarrod Bleijie and the Crisafulli Government have down tools.
“Now is not the time for a go-slow.
“Now is the time for urgent action.
“Queenslanders need these homes built and they need construction happening now.
“Jarrod Bleijie needs to pick up the tools and get back to work to get these projects happening for the sake of Queenslanders.”
Quotes attributable to Shadow Housing Minister Meaghan Scanlon:
“Remove the barriers, speed up approvals and you’ll fuel housing construction – that’s what industry told us, so that’s what we did.
“Now the LNP are adding more barriers on affordable housing projects, slowing down approvals and in some instances, cancelling homes altogether.
“If all declared, the pilot projects alone will unlock more than 4,945 homes in places that are well-located to the transport, schools, jobs and services that people need.
“Since then, those projects have been shoved in the bottom of the drawer by Jarrod Bleijie while his colleagues hit the streets opposing homes in their own backyard.”
ENDS