Amelia Prokuda

Expertise

Amelia is an experienced Planning and Environment lawyer, specialising in town planning, development and environmental law with experience in land acquisition and compensation matters.

Amelia is known for her successes in appeals, declaratory proceedings and enforcement proceedings in the Planning and Environment Court, Land Court and Magistrates Court, as well as her forward-thinking advice surrounding strategic planning, development assessment and infrastructure delivery.

Amelia believes in the provision of straight-forward, practical advice to her clients which delivers on both commercial and community objectives.

Amelia is listed in The Best Lawyers in Australia 2021 and 2022 edition for Land Use and Zoning Law and Planning and Environmental Law. She is also recognised in the 2018 and 2019 edition of Doyles Guide as a rising star in Planning & Environment for Australia. 

Experience

Examples of Amelia’s experience include the following:

• acted for local governments, developers and submitters in Planning and Environment Court appeals and declaration proceedings
• provided legal advice to various developers about the most appropriate strategy to adopt to obtain specific development outcomes
• assisted with the legal review of environmental impact statements on behalf of resource clients
• advised a resources client about the approvals process and various legislative and planning scheme constraints (including constraints applying to strategic cropping land) relating to the construction of a rail spur, including undertaking a legal review of the development application material prior to lodgement
• advised and acted for a resources client in the Land Court with respect to objections against its application to amend an environmental authority
• acted for the Minister for Transport and Main Roads and the Chief Executive of the Department of Transport and Main Roads, the Respondents to a Supreme Court application seeking judicial review of the State’s compulsory acquisition of land at Burleigh Heads
• undertaken a legal review of a local government’s draft planning scheme and providing advice on issues about strategic planning, development assessment and infrastructure delivery
• advised a local government about issues relating to adverse impacts arising from the ongoing use of motocross facilities and the local government’s liability arising from complaints made by local residents
• provided legal advice to a local government on whether it complied with the requirements of the Integrated Planning Act 1997 (Qld) in assessing a development application for a bio-mass power plant particularly relating to characterisation issues and changes to the development application during various states of the assessment process
• provided legal advice to a local government on its rights and obligations in relation to an application under the Right to Information Act 2009 (Qld) for documents relating to investigations into complaints from members of the public
• advised and acted for local governments in Magistrates Court prosecutions for development and environmental offences
• acted for a large privately owned petrol distributor and retail operator in its claims for compensation for the taking of land and its service station business. Both claims were referred to the Land Court for determination and settled before the matters were set down for hearing. The claim for compensation relating to the business was significant and complicated by the fact the entire business was sold to a third party after the land was compulsorily acquired
• assisted with providing strategic advice to and acted for Brisbane City Council as the constructing authority in claims for compensation arising from Council’s compulsory acquisition of land for the construction of the Hale Street Link. This included preparing for and attending the hearing of the applications for the determination of compensation in the Land Court, which involved multiple parties and expert witnesses in various fields of expertise.