SUMMARY OF FINDINGS



This release presents an experimental land account for the State of Queensland and the associated Natural Resource Management (NRM) regions. The State of Queensland, Australia (Figure 1) contains 15 NRM regions: Border Rivers Maranoa-Balonne, Burdekin, Burnett Mary, Cape York, Condamine, Cooperative Management Area, Desert Channels, Fitzroy, Mackay Whitsunday, Northern Gulf, South East Queensland, South West Queensland, Southern Gulf, Torres Strait, and Wet Tropics. These NRM regions are shown in Figure 2.

According to the Land Account: Queensland, Experimental Estimates, 2013, the total rateable value of land in Queensland is $540 billion and covers approximately 172 million hectares. This land value is consistent with the Australian System of National Accounts, 2011-12 (ABS. cat. no. 5204.0).

The South East Queensland NRM region dominates land value at $412 billion (76%), while the Desert Channels NRM region covers the largest proportion of area in Queensland with 51 million hectares (29%). Figure 3 presents the total rateable value of land for each NRM.

NRM Region	Rateable Value ($'000)	Percentage of State total (%)
Border Rivers Maranoa-Balonne	4 407 391	0.81
Burdekin	20 186 397	3.73
Burnett Mary	27 261 095	5.04
Cape York	584 877	0.11
Condamine	14 994 278	2.77
Cooperative Management Area (CMA)	7 327	0
Desert Channels	1 485 802	0.27
Fitzroy	22 991 642	4.25
Mackay Whitsunday	13 610 416	2.52
Northern Gulf	572 440	0.11
South East Queensland	411 612 000	76.1
South West Queensland	515 314	0.1
Southern Gulf	1 560 206	0.29
Torres Strait	233 099	0.04
Wet Tropics	20 865 638	3.86

Residential land use

Land classified as residential by the State of Queensland represents $464 billion or 86% of Queensland's total rateable value but only accounts for 1% of the state's total area. The South East Queensland NRM region contributes the majority of this value with $365 billion or 79% of the state total (Figure 4). In this NRM region, 514,000 hectares (6%) of land area was classified as residential land use (Figure 5). South East Queensland contains the majority of the Greater Brisbane Greater Capital City Statistical Area (GCCSA). According to the 2011 Census of Population and Housing the Greater Brisbane GCCSA contains 48% of Queensland’s total population. This highlights the strong relationship between land value and population.

NRM Region	Residential Rateable Value ($'000)	Percentage of State total (%)
Border Rivers Maranoa-Balonne	1 818 449	0.39
Burdekin	16 261 581	3.50
Burnett Mary	22 521 779	4.85
Cape York	471 396	0.10
Condamine	10 572 662	2.28
Cooperative Management Area (CMA)	94	0.00
Desert Channels	225 480	0.05
Fitzroy	16 285 675	3.51
Mackay Whitsunday	11 727 346	2.53
Northern Gulf	214 072	0.05
South East Queensland	365 799 137	78.82
South West Queensland	87 336	0.02
Southern Gulf	899 372	0.19
Torres Strait	188 530	0.04
Wet Tropics	17 027 178	3.67

NRM Region	Residential Area (Hectares)	Percentage of State total (%)
Border Rivers Maranoa-Balonne	147 800	7.99
Burdekin	87 528	4.73
Burnett Mary	401 717	21.72
Cape York	69 229	3.74
Condamine	211 159	11.42
Cooperative Management Area (CMA)	76	0.00
Desert Channels	10 399	0.56
Fitzroy	181 945	9.84
Mackay Whitsunday	67 778	3.66
Northern Gulf	23 916	1.29
South East Queensland	514 159	27.80
South West Queensland	4 715	0.25
Southern Gulf	6 597	0.36
Torres Strait	319	0.02
Wet Tropics	122 370	6.62

Tables 1 and 2 (available in the Downloads Tab) include rateable values and land area of residential land use under land covers of irrigated and rainfed sugar. The remotely sensed data used to classify land cover assigns covers based on the majority of coverage by 250 metre grid cells. The rateable value and area of residential land use under irrigated sugar and rainfed sugar reported in Tables 1 and 2 reflect this resolution and the close proximity of these land covers to built-up areas, as illustrated in Figure 6.

Primary Production land use

Over half of the land area in Queensland has a land use classification of primary production (61%) valued at $23 billion (4%). However, Queensland also contains around 52 million hectares of land unallocated to a land use. It is likely a large proportion of this unallocated area is used for primary production. Agricultural Commodities, Australia, 2010-11 (ABS. cat. no. 7121.0) reported that approximately 81% of Queensland land use was for agricultural activity.

Tables 1 and 2 (available in the Downloads Tab) highlight the strong relationship between rateable value of primary production and proximity to large urban centres with markets and infrastructure. Primary production land use in the South East Queensland NRM region covers 1 million hectares and has a rateable value of $5 billion or 20% of the total rateable value for this land use in Queensland. Desert Channels contains the largest area of primary production land use in Queensland with 31 million hectares (29%). This land has a total rateable value of $1 billion. More information about the Value of Agricultural Commodities Produced (VACP) in regional areas is available from Value of Agricultural Commodities Produced, Australia, 2010-11 (ABS cat. no. 7503.0).

Primary production in Queensland occurs on a wide variety of land covers. Trees and tussock grasses are the dominant covers for this land use at 45% and 30% of area respectively. By value trees represent 37% of the total value of primary production and tussock grasses 25%. Land cover classified as rainfed pasture accounts for only 2% of the area of primary production land use but it's value is 20% of the State total at $5 billion. Similarly, irrigated land covers account for only 1% of the area of primary production land use but their value is 8% of the State total. Water Use on Australian Farms, 2011-12 (ABS. Cat. No. 4618.0) shows that Queensland was the second largest user of water for irrigation in Australia with 1,884 gigalitres in 2011-12.
Livestock Grazing land use

Livestock grazing covers the largest land area with 102 million hectares and has the highest rateable value ($15 billion) of all primary production land uses in Queensland. Desert Channels NRM Region contains the largest area of livestock grazing with 31 million hectares (or 30% of the State total). The rateable value for this area is $1 billion. The total rateable value of land used for livestock grazing on irrigated pasture and rainfed pasture land covers in Queensland is around $163 million and $3 billion, respectively. South East Queensland NRM region is the largest in this category with total values of $79 million and $2 billion, 48% and 50% of the state total. The Burnett Mary NRM has a similarly high value of livestock grazing with $58 million on irrigated pasture and $649 million on rainfed pasture. Burnett Mary covers 6 million hectares, of which 4 million hectares are used for livestock grazing.


Extractive industries land use

Land classified an extractive industries in the State of Queensland represents $467 million (or 0.09%) of rateable value and covers 657,000 hectares (or 0.4%) of land area. Broadly, extractive industries includes uses such as quarries, mines, tailing dumps, well/bores, salt pans and dredging operations. Despite the small proportion of rateable land value and land area, Mining Operations, Australia, 2011-12 (ABS. cat. No. 8415.0) shows that over 40,000 people are employed in the mining industry (Coal mining, Oil and gas extraction, Metal ore mining and Non-metallic mineral mining and quarrying from Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC) (cat. no. 1292.0)) in Queensland (or 27% of the national total).

Land use refers to the activity occurring at or below the earth surface, while cover is the physical material at the surface of the earth. Table 2.16 shows that only 5% of land with an extractive industries use occurred under an extraction sites land cover. In comparison, 70% was found to occur on trees closed, trees open, trees spare and trees scattered covers. This highlights that a significant proportion of extractive industries uses are covered by forested areas.


Statistical Area 1 Data

A Statistical Area Level 1 (SA1) is a small statistical area used as the basis for the output of the Census of Population and Housing. Their area can range from a small city block to sparse agricultural or remote communities, usually with populations of 200 to 800 people. (See Figure 7)

Land Value

Brisbane, the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast had the largest rateable values of land per hectare in Queensland. The SA1 in Queensland with the largest rateable value of land per hectare was in Brisbane City, adjacent to the Brisbane River, valued at $68 million ($6,800 per square metre). Overall, land with the largest site value per hectare was located in the Brisbane Central Business District as well as along the Brisbane River and the City’s coastline (see Map 4 in the Downloads Tab).

Map 5 (available in the Downloads Tab) illustrates rateable land value per hectare by SA1 on the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast. The SA1 on the Gold Coast with the largest rateable value of land per hectare was at Surfers Paradise, valuing $27 million ($2,700 per square metre). On the Sunshine Coast, an SA1 at Noosa Heads had the largest rateable value of land per hectare, valued at $13 million ($1,300 per square metre). In both of these urban areas, there is a clear trend of rateable land value per hectare increasing towards the coast.


Land development and population growth

The Estimated Resident Population (ERP) for Queensland increased by 9% between 2006 and 2011 to over 4 million people. Supporting this population growth were 166,000 new cadastral parcels created in Queensland between 2006 and 2011. More than three quarters (127,000) of these new parcels were less than 750 square metres (0.075 hectares) in area. Cadastral parcels of this size are predominantly associated with residential land use.

The SA1 in Queensland with the greatest increase in the number of small (0-750 square metres) residential sized land parcels from 2006 to 2011 was at North Lakes - Mango Hill in Brisbane's north, where 880 parcels were added. In line with this growth, nearly all of this SA1 was populated over these 5 years, totalling 2,100 people in 2011. Overall, the greatest increases in small residential sized land parcels and ERP between 2006 and 2011 were in SA1s at Cashmere, Murrumba Downs - Griffin and North Lakes - Mango Hill in Brisbane's north; Pallara - Willawong and Bethania - Waterford in Brisbane's south; Springfield Lakes and Redbank Plains in Ipswich; Coomera and Pimpama on the Gold Coast; and Mountain Creek on Queensland's Sunshine Coast (see Figure 8 below and Map 6 in the Downloads Tab).

One SA1 at Cashmere, also in Brisbane's north, added 424 small (0-0.075 ha) residential sized land parcels between 2006 and 2011. To complement this land development, this SA1 was entirely populated over these 5 years, totalling 900 people. On the southern outskirts of Brisbane at Pallara - Willawong, 502 small cadastral parcels were added to one SA1 from 2006 to 2011. In line with this growth, the population of this SA1 increased by 1,800. This increase was one of the largest in Queensland over this time. In one SA1 at Bethania - Waterford, 444 small cadastral parcels were added over these 5 years to 2011. The total value of all building approvals in this SA1 for the 2011-2012 financial year was one of the highest in the State, totalling $15.9 million.

Springfield Lakes in Ipswich added 600 small (0-0.075 ha) cadastral parcels from 2006 to 2011. This SA1 was also entirely populated over these 5 years, reaching 1,400 people, and held one of the highest populations in an SA1 in Queensland in 2011. Two SA1s on the Gold Coast, at Coomera and Pimpama, experienced respective increases of 800 and 500 small (0-0.075 ha) cadastral parcels from 2006 to 2011. At Coomera, these new parcels came in part from a loss of 19 cadastral parcels sized between 2 and 10 hectares in area. In line with this land development, this SA1 experienced the largest population growth between 2006 and 2011 in Queensland, increasing by 2,300. The total value of all building approvals in this SA1 for the 2011-2012 financial year was also one of the highest in the State, totalling $20 million.

Cadastral parcels sized between 0.4 and 10 hectares often include land used for residential purposes. This form of residential settlement is described with various names including "peri-urban", "rural residential" and "hobby farming" and is a growing phenomenon in many parts of Australia. Several regions in Queensland were identified with large increases in cadastral parcels of this size with residential land use (see Figure 9 below and Map 7 in the Downloads Tab) between 2002 to 2011.

The largest increase from 2002 to 2011 in a single SA1 occurred at Greenbank, to Brisbane's south, with 289 additional parcels. In line with this land development, 93 percent of this SA1's 2011 population settled between 2002 and 2011. Other areas with significant development between 2002 and 2011 include Samford Valley, Karana Downs and Karalee - Barellan Point to Brisbane's north, and Jimboomba, Beaudesert, Tamborine - Canungra and Oxenford - Maudsland to Brisbane's south.

Some large increases were also identified in Northern Queensland. Three SA1s around Townsville - at Bohle Plains, Mount Louisa and Townsville - South - experienced a combined increase of 427 cadastral parcels over this time. South of Cairns, at Malanda - Yungaburra and Gordonvale - Trinity, 313 new land parcels were added to two SA1s from 2002 to 2011. At Gordonvale - Trinity, the population of one SA1 more than doubled over these 9 years to 2011.