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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 3 Hansard (8 April) . . Page.. 658 ..

MS HORODNY (continuing):

While it is already Government policy that rural leases should have property management plans, it concerns me that this process is happening very slowly and could easily be overturned if the Government decides to change its policy. I was told only recently by officials that, of the 200 or so rural leases in the ACT, only 12 have property management plans, and that most of the leases will not have to have these plans until the year 2005, when most of the leases reach the end of their term and will have to be renewed. I think this timescale is far too slow. By putting the Government's policy into legislation there will be greater impetus to get these property management plans into place.

MR HUMPHRIES (Attorney-General and Minister for the Environment, Land and Planning) (11.13): Mr Speaker, I support the thrust of what the Greens are trying to do with this amendment, that is, to put more emphasis on the use of property management agreements. I think it was this Government that originally proposed property management agreements in respect of rural leases. Certainly, we have been very keen to pursue the concept of having agreements in place to protect and enhance the practices used by rural leaseholders in terms of - - -

Mr Moore: I think it came out of our report on rural leases, actually.

MR HUMPHRIES: Yes, indeed. I am reminded by Mr Moore that it emerged from a report of the old Conservation, Heritage and Environment Committee that there be those agreements which would strengthen the policies in place in respect of individual blocks of land that went beyond the policies applying to the whole Territory, and that has been an important part of the process. The concern I have about this is that at a fairly pivotal point in the review of the way in which rural leases are operating in the Territory we have a requirement being imposed in the Land Act in the course of an amending Bill which is really not about this at all. This is really another matter altogether.

It is proposed that there be property management agreements in place under a procedure outlined in this amendment as a precondition for the granting of rural leases. Mr Speaker, rural leases are not granted on an everyday basis; they are granted reasonably regularly throughout the year. The Government has announced that it is looking at the way in which rural leases operate in the Territory. We presently have a task force working on the question of how we can restructure the rural leasehold system to provide, most importantly, for enough security of tenure by rural lessees to ensure that their approach towards conservation issues on their land and the preservation and the value of their land is a long-term consideration, not a matter of, "How do I get over the period of the next 15 years until my lease expires?". I think all in the Assembly, but particularly members of the Conservation, Heritage and Environment Committee that looked at this issue a few years ago, realise that one of the great contributing factors towards a lack of effort in the area of care for the environment by rural lessees was the fairly short nature of the leases that were being granted by the Government; but extending leases holds a whole series of problems, and that is why the task force we have appointed is looking at these issues at this very time.

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