Regional Queensland Selling, Home Business & Farm-Stay Rules, by Council
Queensland has no single statewide home business exemption or farm-stay code (see the state-wide QLD article for the full framework) — each council's own planning scheme sets its own thresholds. This page covers what's actually documented for each regional council. Looking for an SEQ council instead? See the South East Queensland selling, home business & farm-stay rules by council page.
Cairns Regional Council, Townsville City Council
Both councils publish their own "Home based business" definition and code under CairnsPlan and the Townsville City Plan respectively, rather than relying on any statewide default — consistent with Queensland's general approach of leaving these thresholds to each council. As with the rest of Queensland, a home business or farm-stay proposal here is assessed against the specific acceptable-outcomes criteria in the relevant plan, not a simple numeric exemption.
Source: CairnsPlan; Townsville City Plan
Other regional councils: Central Highlands, Toowoomba, Rockhampton, Mackay, Bundaberg, Gympie, Gladstone, Western Downs, Livingstone
These councils each assess home business and farm-stay/short-term rural accommodation proposals under their own planning scheme's provisions, consistent with Queensland's council-by-council approach, but a documented public breakdown of their specific numeric thresholds wasn't available at time of writing. Western Downs and Central Highlands, being among the most agriculturally-focused councils in this group, are the ones where a genuine farm-stay or agritourism proposal is most likely to engage directly with rural zone provisions rather than a straightforward home-business pathway.
Source: Central Highlands, Toowoomba, Rockhampton, Mackay, Bundaberg, Gympie, Gladstone, Western Downs and Livingstone planning schemes
Frequently Asked Questions
Do CairnsPlan and the Townsville City Plan set their own home-based business rules?
Yes. Both councils publish their own "Home based business" definition and code under their respective planning schemes, rather than relying on any statewide default - consistent with Queensland's general approach of leaving these thresholds to each council.
Does regional Queensland have a statewide farm-stay code like NSW?
No. Every regional QLD council assesses farm-stay and short-term rural accommodation under its own planning scheme's provisions, with guest numbers, floor area and site size thresholds set locally rather than by one statewide code.
Can one food business licence cover multiple regional QLD councils?
Generally no. Unlike Victoria's statewide FoodTrader system, Queensland typically requires a separate food business licence with each council area a temporary or mobile food business trades in - this applies uniformly across every regional QLD council.