This Act amended the previous Pastoral Land Act to improve the effectiveness of existing legislation, correct technical irregularities and provide for contemporary management of the pastoral estate, with an emphasis on promoting diversification in pastoral land use. The rationale for these recent amendments is to enable lessees to secure investment from third parties in accordance with the 2014 amendments to the Pastoral Land Amendment Act 2013, which allowed the Pastoral Land Board to grant a lessee a permit upon application to use all or part of the lessee’s pastoral land for a non-pastoral purpose.
Key provisions include:
Pastoral lease rent will now be calculated based on carrying capacity rather than the unimproved capital value of the land;
An increase in the penalty for those found guilty of denying an Aboriginal person access to pastoral land to follow traditional pursuits (s 38(5));
An increase in the number of members on the Pastoral Land Board.
The Act was passed without the proposed provisions that would give pastoralists the right to secure sub-leases on their properties to allow for land to be used for a range of non-pastoral purposes.
See the Second Reading Speech for further information.