Pastoral leases (42% of state) inspections to increase to check on fragile areas in South Australia's outback

The inset map shows the extent of South Australia's northern pastoral (cattle and sheep) leases, covering 42% of the state, and extending for 42 years.
Main image by Lincoln Rothall, ABC News.

Proposed changes to managing South Australia's outback pastoral leases — an area covering nearly half the state —were scrapped by the new Labor state government in 2022.

Under the former Liberal state government's plans, existing leases would have been changed from 42 years to 100 years and a legislated maximum rate of stock to be run on each lease would have been removed. It also moved for land to be inspected remotely, primarily by satellite, instead of in person.

The Labor government stopped the changes to the Pastoral Act from 1989 that would have given graziers a lot more power. It also moved the pastoral unit out of the state government primary industries department and back under the environment department.

An extra $1 million was promised by the state government to make sure the pastoral unit could carry out overdue condition assessments of grazing land in a "timely way", to ensure sheep and cattle stations were not damaging the fragile country in South Australia’s north.

The new government also wanted to work with pastoralists to use their land for conservation purposes. It also confirmed that carbon offsets could be used on pastoral properties. Livestock SA president Joe Keynes called the scrapping of the Liberal draft bill a lost opportunity but welcomed an extra $1 million in government funding foe “overdue condition assessments of grazing land”.  He said a more modern approach might use remote sensing and other new technology, along with some “ground-truthing”, for greater efficiency.

On-ground assessment of land condition was required every 14 years under the Pastoral Act. A report was then prepared for the pastoral board that considered stocking levels and other conditions on leases. Some station inspections were years behind schedule, creating financial insecurity for businesses.

Conservation Council SA chief executive Craig Wilkins said it would be “really good” to have  further clarity around the status of “fantastic wilderness reserves, which are on pastoral land and governed under a pastoral lease”.

Nature Conservation Society of South Australia president Patrick O’Connor welcomed the change in direction. He said the lapse in inspections had been a "real problem" for pastoralists and for conservation: "The inspections are so important and making that relationship with the landholders around the condition of those assets is really important to sustain them, to give those landholders confidence about their investments."