Property rights and the littoral zone in Queensland

Abstract

[Abstract]: In Australia, changes in social attitude to conservation and the environment over the past sixty years has demanded changes to property rights, restrictions and responsibilities. In Queensland, as in most jurisdictions in Australia, there has been an increase in controls and a gradual and progressive unbundling of traditionally held property rights as a response by governments to this social change. This project investigated the property rights, restrictions and responsibilities of land owners in Queensland with property which adjoins the littoral zone. This gave an insight into the number and type of property rights, restrictions and responsibilities which are unique to property with a littoral boundary. The study also examined how these property rights, restrictions and responsibilities were spatially defined and how they were recorded for land administration. Field surveys were carried out at three sites to examine the spatial extent of rights, restrictions and responsibilities in a real world environment. Results showed that while private property rights, restrictions and responsibilities were recorded under the current titling system, most publicly created rights, restrictions and responsibilities were not. The study also revealed problems with how rights, restrictions and responsibilities are defined spatially in legislation which lead to ambiguity in defining these rights, restrictions and responsibilities in the real world. Finally it was found that where information was available in relation to the spatial extent of rights, restrictions and responsibilities it was often inaccurate.