The latest Queensland surveying audit details have been released, and they indicate little or no substantial improvement over the previous 12 months.

The audits are comprised of three types: validation of submitted plans, desk audits and field audits.

The Department of Natural Resources and Mines, Manufacturing and Regional and Rural Development validates every plan submitted, to ensure all data is correct prior to entry into the state’s datasets. Surveyors are notified of most issues found.

According to the Department, there hasn’t been any significant improvement in validation results for 2025 compared to 2024. Of the approximately 14,000 plans submitted, around 1.4% have required amendment.

Common errors include mistakes in signature dates, incorrect plan description, incorrect or misspelt local authority names, and missing or incorrect plan or sheet numbering.

When it comes to the 2025 desk audits — which comprise a sample of submitted and/or lodged surveys — the Department found a decline in plan compliance when compared to 2024.

Common errors include:

• Inaccurate or incomplete dimensions;
• Inadequate plan presentation;
• Reinstatement issues (eg. identification surveys that lack justification for location of rear boundaries);
• Missing or insufficient information in survey reports;
• Not recording occupation on or near boundaries;
• Not searching for corner or reference marks;
• Insufficient justification for adopted natural feature boundaries.

Field audits are conducted at least 150 times per year. Of those surveys subjected to one during 2025, compliance rates ranged from 45% to 70% — a slight improvement over 2024.

The most significant areas of non-compliance involved:

• Poor marking including insufficient reference marks;
• Encroachments and improvements not shown;
• Lack of, or incorrect occupation shown;
• Corner or reference marks not searched;
• Incorrect scale factors applied to longer lines;
• Inadequate justification for reinstatement solution.

The Department has consulted with the Surveyors Board of Queensland and decided that the focus for audits in 2026 will remain unchanged from 2025. In particular, they will tackle:

• Surveyors with historically lower audit compliance rates
• Surveyors who operate from locations outside of Queensland
• Surveys that include a physical feature boundary.

In 2024, the Department noted that for the period from July 2023 to September 2024, “aspects with the lowest compliance rates are surveys carried out by surveyors who operate from locations outside Queensland (34% compliant), surveys with ambulatory boundaries (43% compliant), and surveys carried out by surveyors with poor past performance (58% compliant)”.

The Department says it will continue to collaborate with the industry by providing information sessions and presentations, and it encourages surveyors to make use of the Survey Plan Audit Checklist.