QLD Selling, Home Business & Farm-Stay Rules: What the State Actually Sets

Queensland requires a council licence for most home-based food activities, including cooking breakfast for farm-stay guests, rather than the lighter notification model used in some other states. Farm-stay and short-term accommodation thresholds are also left largely to individual councils' own planning schemes, rather than one unified statewide code. This article covers what the state actually sets for each, before your specific council's requirements layer on top.

Queensland's approach leans more heavily on council-by-council assessment than NSW's or Victoria's for both food and farm-stay. Each is covered as its own section below.

Selling produce: no licence for the basics, a council licence for most cooked or home-based food

Under the Food Act 2006, several common activities need no council licence at all: selling pre-packaged food, selling whole fruit and vegetables, selling tea, coffee or soft drinks, and primary produce like milk or meat sold through an accredited butcher under the Food Production (Safety) Act 2000. Beyond these, though, Queensland's default is stricter than some other states: a council food business licence is required for most home-based cooking for sale, including bed and breakfast or farm-stay breakfasts, catering, and preparing food for a market or fete. A specific carve-out exists for cooking demonstrations where participants bring their own ingredients and consume the food on-site.

A genuine practical difference from Victoria's FoodTrader system: if you operate a temporary food business in more than one council area, you generally need a separate food business licence with each council you trade in, rather than one statewide registration covering all of them. As with the other states covered in this series, council will generally want to confirm your planning approval (that your home qualifies as a legitimate home-based business under the local planning scheme) before assessing your food licence application.

Home business: assessed under each council's own planning scheme

Queensland doesn't have one statewide "home business exemption" clause the way NSW and Victoria do — whether a home-based business needs planning approval, and under what conditions, is set by each council's own planning scheme (for example, the "Home based business" definition and code in the Townsville City Plan or CairnsPlan). This means the specific thresholds vary by council, and checking your own council's planning scheme directly is a necessary first step before assuming any particular activity is exempt.

Farm-stay & short-term accommodation: council-specific thresholds, not one statewide code

Unlike NSW's dedicated 2022 Agritourism Code, Queensland leaves the specific thresholds for farm-stay and short-term rural accommodation largely to individual councils' own planning schemes, operating under the broad framework of the state's Planning Act 2016. Some councils fold bed and breakfast or farm-stay into their "Home based business" definition (as Scenic Rim does); others set specific accepted-development thresholds by guest numbers, floor area and site size. Noosa's planning scheme, for example, allows short-term rural accommodation as code assessable (a more straightforward approval pathway) on a site of at least 4 hectares with no more than 4 guest rooms and 200m² total floor area, stepping up to a more involved impact assessable pathway beyond those limits. These specific numbers are council-set, not applied statewide.

Worth keeping separate: the state's own Planning Regulation 2017 provides a distinct exemption for rural workers' accommodation specifically (not paying guests) — allowing small-scale worker housing to proceed without a full development approval where the property sits in a rural zone and is at least 25 hectares. This is a different thing from farm-stay tourism accommodation, similar to the distinction covered in our Victorian article.

An important disclaimer, worth taking seriously

The Food Act 2006 licensing categories and the Planning Regulation 2017 rural worker accommodation exemption are verifiable, state-wide facts. But your specific council's home-based business definition, and the exact guest numbers, floor area and site size thresholds that apply to farm-stay or short-term accommodation on your land, are set by your council's own planning scheme and vary. Confirm directly with your council before starting a food business, home business, or farm-stay operation.

Frequently Asked Questions