Tree removal in Brisbane: what's local
One local law covers most of the city
Brisbane City Council protects vegetation under the Natural Assets Local Law 2003. It sorts protected trees into Council vegetation (street, park and natural-area trees), significant native vegetation, significant urban vegetation, waterway and wetland vegetation, and anything under a vegetation protection order. Our Brisbane permit page goes through each category.
The big trees the law names
The local law's schedule of significant landscape trees (2013 consolidation) lists figs from 100 cm trunk diameter, mangoes, poincianas and jacarandas from 80 cm, and hoop pine, bunya pine, Queensland kauri, forest red gum, tallowwood and scribbly gum from 60 cm. Trunks are measured 1.4m above natural ground, and the schedule applies in set zones, registers and orders.
October to March is storm season
Council treats October to March as storm season and suggests trimming branches well clear of the house before it. In the December 2023 storms, AIDR reports a 169 km/h gust at Archerfield Airport and trees falling on homes across Brisbane and Ipswich.
Bushland and creek edges
City Plan 2014's Bushfire overlay maps high and medium hazard areas and their buffers. If your yard backs onto bushland or a creek, the waterway and wetland and significant native vegetation categories are the ones to check before anything is cleared.
Weed trees in the backyard
Council lists umbrella trees and cocos palms as pest vegetation, and camphor laurel is restricted matter under the Biosecurity Act 2014. Council says umbrella tree roots can block plumbing joints and damage footpaths and foundations.
Power lines belong to Energex
Brisbane sits in Energex's south east Queensland network. A tree on a line is Energex's job: 000 if anyone is in danger, otherwise its faults line.
Tree pruning and lopping in Brisbane
Plenty of Brisbane people search for tree loppers, and that's fine. Most of the people who answer are arborists, and the difference shows in the cut.
Lopping or topping (cutting limbs back to stubs) is listed as an unacceptable practice in AS 4373-2007, the Australian pruning standard. Brisbane's local law goes further: lopping or topping a protected tree counts as interfering with it. If a quote says lop, ask what it means, and see lopping vs pruning for what good work looks like.
Common tree jobs in Brisbane
Pruning before summer. Spreading poincianas, figs and jacarandas over roofs and gutters are worth sorting before October. See tree pruning in Brisbane.
Removals. From a split gum to an umbrella tree whose roots have found the drains. Get the property report first, then an arborist to quote how it comes down.
Stumps left from an old removal, often right where you want a path or a shed: stump grinding in Brisbane.
Cocos palms dropping fruit and seedlings: palm trees in Brisbane.
Overgrown blocks on the bushier fringe, where the protected categories need checking first: land clearing in Brisbane.
Over the boundary in Redcliffe, North Lakes or Springfield, a different council's rules apply: see Moreton Bay and Ipswich. Logan and the Redlands have their own councils too.
Storm damage and fallen trees in Brisbane
Call 000 if anyone is hurt or trapped. For a tree on the roof or blocking your way out, the SES can help. A tree touching a power line is for Energex: treat the line as live and keep everyone well back. Leave hanging branches alone until an arborist is there.
Hiring an arborist in Brisbane
We'd ask council for its Protected Vegetation enquiry report on the address before calling anyone, because it settles the biggest unknown in writing. Then we'd have one arborist look at the tree in person and put down how it comes down, what happens to the stump and green waste, and who lodges any permit.