GOLD SPONSOR

The Department of State Development, Infrastructure, Local Government and Planning is serving Queensland’s future by thinking ahead and acting now to secure responsible economic development and liveable communities. 

We are responsible for improving the planning framework to create thriving communities— this includes carefully balancing the built and natural environment, economic prosperity, educational opportunities, and cultural and recreational possibilities. 

An important part of our role is working with other state agencies, local government, industry stakeholders and the community to deliver better planning outcomes for Queensland. This might be in the form of potable running water, roads to drive on, parks to play in, nearby shops to meet our daily needs or being able to appreciate our natural environment. 

We develop state policy, identify and deliver critical infrastructure across the state, assess development proposals, work with our partners to help maintain our planning legislation, collaborate with local governments to create and amend local planning schemes, and develop regional planning frameworks for state policy through regional plans. 

We must lay strong foundations with the right frameworks for economic development and liveable communities that will meet the future needs of our growing and changing population.

Gold Sponsor Spotlight

Planning Group is delighted to be Gold Sponsor of the Planning Institute of Australia (PIA) National Congress 2023. We value our long-standing relationship with PIA and the opportunity to support this prestigious event. 

PIA has recently met with Tess Pickering, Deputy Director-General Planning Group, and talked about her role and priorities.

Q. You and your accomplishments are an inspiration to many. Who and what inspires you?

A. People in general. There is nothing more inspiring than working alongside people who have the confidence to push boundaries and make a real impact. Our profession has such potential to shape people’s lives. It’s why I put such an emphasis on culture and collaboration. There is no monopoly on good ideas in our profession and everyone has a role to play. Seeing a young planner finish a project or a grad come up with a key strategic idea gets me absolutely firing.

Q. How will your experience at the Victorian Planning Authority shape your work as Deputy Director-General in Queensland?

A. The culture at the VPA is very open. We worked hard to be as collaborative with industry and local government as possible, which really paid off in the work that we were able to do. For instance, the new Precinct Structure Plan Guidelines were a collaborative effort that will benefit new communities in a range of ways, from increased tree cover to a better mix of housing types. I want to bring this focus on collaboration with me to the Planning Group.

Q. Have any former Deputy Director-Generals offered you any words of advice, stepping into your new role?

A. Stuart Moseley has been hugely supportive of me coming back to Queensland to take on this new opportunity. I’ve learnt a lot from working closely with him in various roles over the last seven odd years.
His message has been to embrace the big challenges and enjoy it—it’s one of the best jobs in the country.

Q. What are your priorities for the Planning Group?

A. Obviously, the update to Shaping SEQ is an important immediate focus and I’ve hit the ground running on that. 

More broadly, I want to make sure that we have a strong sense of priorities across the group and that everyone understands how they are contributing. I’m not huge on hierarchies because they tend to disempower people from thinking innovatively. If we have a strong sense of what is important, we can get on with our work with clarity and confidence. 

I also want to make sure that we are interacting with stakeholders in an ordinary, human way. I want to make sure that people know who to contact and that we aren’t sending emails from generic inboxes. 

Planning is a partnership and you need relationships and trust.

Q. What do you think will be your greatest challenge as Deputy Director-General?

A. Growth was the number one challenge pre-pandemic and it’s even more important now. The secret is well and truly out about Queensland. Everyone wants to be here. 

How people interact with places has always been a source of tension. Queensland can grow while maintaining all those things we love about our towns and cities—but it’s going to take a lot of work from our whole profession to get the best outcomes. It’s an important and exciting challenge.

Q. What do you see as the greatest opportunities for Planning Group?

A. I’m hugely biased but I still think Queensland has the best planning system in the country. Our opportunity isn’t in developing new tools but in getting every ounce of benefit out of the ones we already have. The Olympics, the Path to Treaty and the energy transition are just some of the exciting opportunities for us to get stuck in and demonstrate the positive impact we can make on people’s lives.

Q. When you look back on your time as Deputy Director-General, what would you like to have achieved?

A. Good planning is invisible to the public as they seamlessly go about their everyday lives. Meet the growth challenge the right way and people will be oblivious to the work that has gone into it. That’s when we will know we have succeeded.

Q. What do you wish you could tell your younger self?

A. Jim Betts recorded a great podcast last year where he talks about anti-mentoring. When you start your career, you are at the bottom of the food chain and leaders can either make you feel ten-feet tall or cut you down and make you feel small. Anti-mentoring is thinking about what it’s like at the receiving end of that sort of behaviour and focussing your leadership on the opposite. I think we all take on anti-mentoring by osmosis, but I wish I knew the term for it when I was starting out..

Q. Do you have a favourite quote?

A. “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.”

Implementation is what counts at the end of day. A lot of perfect strategies sit on the shelf gathering dust because the culture isn’t there to make them happen. .

Q. What has been the greatest success of your career?

A. I’ve had the opportunity to work with amazing people on amazing projects. Seeing the new Planning Act pass through parliament was exhilarating. Shaping SEQ is one of the best regional plans in the country. The Structure Planning Guidelines in Victoria and achieving healthier densities and more trees was a win. I will always go back to what we were able to achieve as a small planning team at the Queensland Reconstruction Authority in its early days. We did amazing things, but it also demonstrated to me the power of teams.

Q. What has been the greatest learning of your career?

A. The world is messy with a lot of competing demands and priorities. It’s easy for us to get caught up in the mess as planners. You have to be able to filter out the signal from the noise and accept that even exceptional outcomes will never be perfect. Understanding this has changed the way I approach problems.

Q. If you had a magic wand and could make one change today, what would it be?

A. Trees. Increasing tree canopy cover has such an underrated impact on the way people use and enjoy streets. They are great for heat, for active transport and for local businesses.

Q. If you could send one message to the planners of Queensland, what would it be?

A. Come and join the Planning Group.

Thank you Tess