Native Vegetation Council slams draft Pastoral Lands Bill as conservation groups lobby against changes
Proposed changes to the laws governing use of SA’s pastoral lands give greater power to graziers at the expense of the environment, conservationists say.
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Millions of hectares set aside for conservation could be opened up to sheep and cattle under proposed changes to state legislation.
Conservationists believe the draft Pastoral Lands Bill has been written to serve the short-term financial interests of graziers at the expense of environment.
In a scathing submission not publicly released, but obtained by The Advertiser, the State Government’s independent Native Vegetation Council said it was “extremely disappointed” with the draft Bill.
The NV council said the report was at odds with the government’s own account of public consultations held in August-September 2019.
“The draft Bill diminishes the importance of the environment, with the clear emphasis on livestock production and the growth of the pastoral industry,” the NV council’s submission said.
“In the absence of adequate protection and management of the native vegetation and fauna, both the environment and the pastoral industry will suffer long-term decline.”
Among the concerns were:
REMOVAL of stock maximums
SA PASTORAL Board to have final say on land use
STACKING the board, with most members and presiding member, to be pastoralists
CONSERVATION or ecology experience no longer required on the board, and
EXTENDING lease terms from 42 years to 100 years.
The NV council argued “the new requirement to proactively manage the land for pastoralism” meant that the management of 2.7 million ha of conservation properties was “likely to be inconsistent with the proposed Pastoral Land Act and therefore potentially unlawful”.
Properties purchased with millions of dollars in taxpayer and donor funding for conservation include Bon Bon and Boolcoomata (Bush Heritage Australia), Gluepot (Birds Australia), Witchelina and Hiltaba (Nature Foundation), are believed to be at risk.
“The rangelands are a shared resource for all South Australians and need to be protected for future generations,” the NV council’s submission said.
“To ensure the ongoing viability of pastoralism in South Australia, the Native Vegetation Council considers it critical that the new Act requires the protection, management and conservation of native vegetation and fauna habitat.”
The new Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, David Basham, said the government “wants to modernise the current Act, which hasn’t been reviewed in decades”.
“The draft legislation is aimed at supporting the continued economic growth of the state’s pastoral industry, while ensuring the sustainable conservation of the rangelands for future generations,” he said.
“The current legislation has proven inadequate in delivering legal certainty for pastoralists who want to complement their pastoral activities with opportunities to embrace carbon farming or enter into long term heritage agreements or emission reduction fund commitments.”
Mr Basham said the Government would continue to assess submissions before coming to a final position.
“Feedback from stakeholders showed clear demand and support for greater flexibility under the Bill to allow appropriate alternative land-uses which are complimentary to pastoralism and would boost enterprise profitability,” he said.
“This will ensure our pastoralists are able to diversify, better manage income and seasonal variability.”
Conservation groups have also noted that David Larkin, chief executive of Hancock Agriculture, one of Australia’s largest beef producers, was appointed presiding member of the SA Pastoral Board in November last year.
A final Bill is expected to got to parliament next year.
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