SOUTH Australia's Pastoral Act was a hot topic at a pre-election Primary Industries debate on Tuesday night, with the bill to go out for more consultation regardless of who wins the election.
Despite more than a year of consultation, Primary Industries Minister David Basham revealed the proposed bill required more community and industry feedback.
"We know there are people that are concerned and we want to hear more and make more changes to the bill before it goes to the House," he said.
Fellow speakers Clare Scriven - Labor's Primary Industries spokesperson - and Greens Member of the Legislative Council Robert Simms voiced their dissatisfaction with the proposed bill, with Mr Simms adamant his party would not support the legislation in its current form.
Livestock industry figures have previously voiced their disappointment with the lack of progress made on the legislation and the bill's passage was dealt another blow this year when the House of Assembly was not recalled to sit, making its finalisation before the election unfeasible.
The review of the previous pastoral act was announced in August 2019 and a draft Pastoral Lands Bill 2020 was released in September 2020.
RELATED READING: Progress slow on Pastoral Act
While a timeframe for new legislation remains uncertain, Mr Basham said getting the bill right was important and resources had been stretched in conducting a backlog of land assessments inherited from previous government, which he anticipated would be up-to-date by July.
Mr Basham explained the rationale behind certain aspects of the legislation, including plans to change the way in which land condition assessments were conducted, stricter penalties for wrongdoing by leaseholders and a move to 100-year leases.
"Current assessments are a point in time, whereas with satellite technology we can conduct a more accurate assessment of what is out there to make sure we protect those lands and do a better job," he said.
"The reason for 100-year leases is to allow the opportunity for pastoralists to enter into long-term carbon farming opportunities."
RELATED READING: State govt seeks feedback on Pastoral Act
Ms Scriven said Labor's three commitments to pastoral lands legislation were increasing funding to the Pastoral Board by $1 million for land condition assessments, ensuring carbon offsets could be used on pastoral properties, and having primary production and conservation equally supported in a new bill.
"At least a year ago the Minister said the Pastoral Lands Act was one of his top two priorities, along with the Biosecurity Act," she said.
"We haven't seen either of those progress and haven't seen the results of consultation that's been done.
"We need to know what was the problem this bill was trying to address and I think the backlog of land assessments was one of them.
"We need to address that issue and changing to 100-year leases and removing upper stock levels on pastoral lands don't actually address those issues."
RELATED READING: Pastoral Lands plan released
While the Primary Industries debate was mostly cordial and bereft on any major policy announcements, Mr Simms was scathing in his assessment of the proposed pastoral bill.
"I think this is an example of balance being completely lost and the pendulum swinging far too far in favour of one group at the expense of others," he said.
"We cannot have a Pastoral Board that is dominated by an industry that does not have due regard for the skills and expertise of other stakeholders.
"We cannot have a land system that puts such an emphasis on an industry that doesn't consider conservation values, environmental protection and other considerations."
GOVT DEPARTMENT COHESION DEBATED
FACILITATED by Rural Media & Communicators SA/NT and Primary Producers SA, the pre-election debate was also the platform for spirited discussion about farming and mining, peri-urban sprawl, workforce shortages and the cohesion between the Primary Industries and Regional Development portfolios.
Ms Scriven said it was important the state government had a Minister who was not only invested in agriculture, but also invested in regional areas that were enablers for the industry.
She said affordable housing, workforce, health, education and training problems needed to be addressed.
"You can't say agriculture is a silo by itself," Ms Scriven said.
"It needs to have have a goal of growing regional communities, not as an afterthought."
Mr Basham dismissed any notion that his government was not focused on regions, saying they had spent more money on regional roads, health and education than the previous government.
He also dismissed any concerns that Primary Industry and Regional Development portfolios would be split or shifted to different departments under a future Liberal government.
GREENS FLOAT AMBITIOUS BILLION DOLLAR HEALTH IDEA
GREENS MLC Robert Simms says the party will push for a tax to be applied to big banks, in an effort to secure $1.3 billion over four years for regional health services.
The idea was unveiled in the debates pre-amble, in which speakers outlined their election priorities.
Mr Simms said the Greens would advocate for more investment in agricultural research, regional health, education and transport, while policies needed to be drafted to enable farmers to deal with climate change and protect prime farmland from mining.
Mr Basham said he was proud of his government's efforts to abolish the genetically-modified crops moratorium, start the rebuild of the wild dog fence, commence sealing of the Strzelecki Track and put in place a livestock underpass program.
He said imminent goals included an update to biosecurity legislation and the establishment of six demonstration farms as part of a $1 million carbon farming program.
Ms Scriven said Labor's priorities included establishing a critical training fund to address skills shortages, attracting people to live and work regionally to fill workforce gaps and to sustain regional industries, as well as addressing regional health concerns.
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