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Abstract:

The impetus for the Rangelands Reform Program arose from two reviews into the pastoral

industry held in 2009 – the Southern Rangelands Pastoral Advisory Group’s A Review of the

Economic and Ecological Sustainability of Pastoralism in the Southern Rangelands of

Western Australia, and A Review of the Process to Permit Diversification on Pastoral

Leasehold Land in Western Australia. The substantive findings of these two reviews were

that traditional grazing enterprises continue to experience a long term decline in profitability

and the condition of the Rangeland resource upon which they depend. Greater diversity of

economic activity and land use offer the most realistic means of sustaining pastoralists and

remote communities into the future but require expanded options in the tenure arrangements

that govern Crown land in Western Australia. The intention of the Rangelands Reform

Program is to establish these expanded tenure options to promote and facilitate economic

development and preservation of the rangelands in the long term; streamline government

processes and procedures that affect new business development; and identify region-specific

economic development opportunities, while maintaining the social fabric and environmental

sustainability of the rangelands. The Rangelands Reform Program will also assist with the

development of the government’s vision for the rangelands.

A key action is to amend the Western Australian Government’s Land Administration Act

1997 (LAA) to provide options for new forms of tenure, such as a rangelands lease which will

allow for broad scale and varied uses provided that use is consistent with the preservation and

ongoing management of the rangelands. Together with the option of a perpetual pastoral lease

and new diversification permit provisions, the key benefits will be greater flexibility, security

and incentive for the pastoral industry and investment opportunities for new entrants.