Pastoral Lands plan released

Livestock SA president Joe Keynes welcomed the release of the "long-awaited" draft bill, saying it allowed for "greater flexibility, opening more opportunities for alternative land use, and enables pastoral businesses to diversify income and better manage risk".

Mr Keynes was particularly pleased to see pastoral leases extended from 42 years up to 100 years.

"It is very important these days to have long-term tenure when you are negotiating finance with banks," he said.

Mr Keynes said changing the assessment of pastoral properties from every 14 years to every 10 was also a "good compromise", but that land condition monitoring had been years in arrears.

"It has really blown out because the pastoral unit have to actually visit on-property to assess condition," he said.

SA's pastoral rangelands span 410,000 square kilometres, comprising more than 320 leases.

"Hopefully with the inclusion of new technology, we can get good data on these pastoral leases and make this process more efficient," Mr Keynes said.

"There may be people that take issue with this as they may prefer more personal contact or they may have concerns about the accuracy of remote sensing, so it will be interesting to see what ideas and concerns arise when final consultation gets under way in the next couple of weeks."

And while the farming of wild goats has long been mooted by pastoralists, the draft bill did not refer to the practice directly.

Mr Keynes said the approval of "alternative land uses" was intentionally left undefined to allow a range of enterprises that were not encouraged by the former act to be considered.

"But goats are out there now, so why shouldn't pastoralists farm them to improve incomes, just as long as they maintain their land in good condition while doing that," he said.

Pastoralist James Morgan, managing director of large-scale North East landholding Mutooroo Pastoral Company, has also backed most of the amendments suggested for the pastoral act, in particular the extension of lease tenures to 100 years for more financial security and better management of land resumption.

"The lending ability of the NSW Western Division from growers to banks has always been a little bit stronger than what it is in SA, as banks did not consider the 42-year tenure that attractive," he said.

"That was one of the major points we made in our submission to the government and it looks like they've listened."

Mr Morgan also liked that if land was resumed by the Pastoral Board, then compensation would be based on market value.

"There has been some really severe injustices on properties where land has been resumed for military purposes and the compensation has not been sufficient for people handing over land that had been in their family for generations," he said.

"Resumption is a very difficult topic and it doesn't happen very often, but it should be dealt with more fairly and at a commercial rate."

Mr Morgan's family have been farming the area since the late 1800s. Mutooroo Pastoral Company comprises five stations covering nearly 2 million hectares from Yunta to Broken Hill, NSW, plus Mr Morgan has his own station which is not part of the portfolio.

He said the change to 10-year condition assessments was "fine", but the process did need to be more streamlined, possibly reverting back to "dashboard assessments".

"When I first started in pastoralism, inspectors were coming out every year to drive around with us and have a chat about what they though were should be doing," he said.

"Then they went to a 14-year assessment, which became an extremely detailed process and it has been a struggle for the pastoral unit to get them done on time.

"They need to adjust that detailed process and if that means incorporating new technology, that's great, but I object to inspectors passing judgements from satellites, as there is always extreme circumstances, particularly weather patterns, that require further inspection."

Mr Morgan also supported the approval of alternative land uses, such as the possibility of farming goats, but felt the Pastoral Board should retain final say on whether the grower has the appropriate control facilities.

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One aspect Mr Morgan did not agree on was any change to maximum stocking rates.

"I know a lot of people want more flexibility in open stocking rates, because growers should be trusted to make that judgement, but changing to open slather could be a mistake," he said.

"Not only do financial institutions prefer a DSE rating over loose numbers, but a maximum also stops people from buying up properties, abusing that land and then leaving.

"We think the maximums are mostly reasonable and a sensible way of drawing a line in the sand on what stock number a property could cope with and a definite figure for the banking institutions as to what value might be attached to a property.

"The bill may allow a bit more flexibility for growers to increase numbers when the season is good, but it should remain a consideration for the Pastoral Board on a case-by-case basis, possibly in a more speedy fashion."

Fellow pastoralist Gillian Fennell, Lambina Station via Marla, agreed that for a "piece of legislation drafted by the government, it was not too bad".

But some elements needed "closer attention", such as the responsibility of public access route maintenance and how the Landscape SA Act 2019, updated mining act and water allocation plans would intersect with the new pastoral act.

"Hopefully we can get some more information on this at the public consultations coming up," she said.

She agreed new technology could help the "onerous" property inspection process.

"There is always going to be a need for people on the ground to perform some sort of function and for pastoralists to maintain that relationship with the pastoral unit, but I believe it can be done more efficiently with enhanced technology," she said.

"I'd also like the department to commit to reviewing the legislation more frequently, as more agtech becomes available and as management systems change, because what's suitable for the next 10 years, might not be suitable for the next 60 years.

"You want to make sure you can always manage your property to best of your ability and give the best outcomes to the landscape as well."

WHILE a number of public meetings and webinars have been announced as part of the consultation period on the draft Pastoral Lands Bill 2020, there have been calls for more to be put on the schedule to give PIRSA a "thorough understanding" of landholder views and concerns in the pastoral region.

Meetings have been scheduled for Leigh Creek on September 21; Yunta on September 22; Port Augusta and Coober Pedy on September 24 and Adelaide on September 28, where PIRSA and Livestock SA will be on-hand to answer queries and take feedback.

Three webinars will also be held from October 6-8, while those seeking to provide feedback can do so through the YourSAy website or to PIRSA.PastoralActReview@sa.gov.au.

Livestock SA northern region chairman David Bell, who runs Dulkaninna Station on the Birdsville Track, said he would be seeking clarification on a few of the provisions in the new bill at the upcoming meetings, including the terms of the new 100-year leases, new stocking rate figures and what "alternative land uses" entailed.

"It will also be interesting to find out how the government plan to use new technologies when conducting their property condition assessments," he said.

"Changing pastoral unit monitoring to every 10 years is a vital move as these assessments show the government that pastoral landholders are good custodians of the land and I am OK with the pastoral unit using technology, such as satellites, as part of the process, but it shouldn't replace on-the-ground assessments.

"There can be isolated events out here that can ruin tracts of land, which would show up on a satellite, so there needs to be a better understanding of the climate in these areas.

"The pastoral unit needs to hire good people with common sense and scientific backgrounds to gather their information."

Mr Bell hopes PIRSA will schedule a few more meetings to gather as many views as possible, as the landscape differed greatly across the region.

"It is still very drought-affected up here, so it would be great to see PIRSA get around to a few more areas to get as many opinions as possible, given that this bill is the main thing that affects them," he said.

"The act needs to reflect that pastoralists are the number one focus, as they're the people that own the businesses and they're the ones that are invested in the future of them."

The six-week consultation closes on October 11, with the revised act expected to be introduced to Parliament in early 2021.