Draft Pastoral Lands Bill 2020

Livestock SA was involved with several Draft Pastoral Lands Bill consultation meetings to discuss the proposed new Pastoral Lands Act. The draft Bill is a vast improvement on the existing Act and Livestock SA generally supports the proposed changes. There are still areas of concern which need to be addressed. There is a need for adequate funding to resource the pastoral unit to ensure its capability to effectively manage the proposed changes to the Bill. Pastoralists cannot be expected to be entirely responsible for funding all activities in the pastoral region. There is considerable concern about losing maximum stocking rates as they are used by financially institutions to assess the capacity of a leaseholder to repay loans and used to set water allocations. There is an ongoing need for the management of feral and over-abundant native animals. There also needs to be emphasis on the importance of livestock biosecurity. Goats need to be added to the Bill as they are an income opportunity for pastoralists and the Bill has an economic development focus.