Current and future resource management legislation and policies affecting northern Australian rangelands

Summary

In collating legislation likely to impact on rangelands, a number of factors became evident. Most State/Territory industry bodies had a good understanding of the pieces of legislation that were topical, but were generally less likely to have a good grasp of the detailed aspects of the legislation. Nationally, no organisation, public or industry, could readily provide details on policies or legislation as it related to rangeland management in Australia. There was minimal "easy-to-read" legislation and layman's summaries. Queensland has the most comprehensive lay summary while Western Australia has a summary of which Acts impact on rangelands but this summary lacks any interpretation. The NT has guidelines for the Pastoral Land Act, however they tend to refer everything back to the Pastoral Lands Board for ultimate interpretation. The extent to which legislation is supported by appropriate policies and delivery programs was beyond the scope of this study. However preliminary observations would indicate that rangeland legislation is not consistent in dealing with sustainability across the States/Territory and the delivery programs show little evidence of integration at both the policy and planning level.