Federated Farmers Accuse Government Program of Lack of Integrity

The Federated Farmers have accused the government program of lack of integrity and questioned the credibility of subsequent consultation.

The issue arose on what to do with pastoral land leased from the Crown by farmers. And in February, the government launched the first of a two-prong attack on this problem by axing Tenure Review. Sources say the Tenure Review was a two-decade old process that allowed high country farmers to freehold some Crown leasehold land and give other parts of the state for environmental preservation. 171 leases of Crown land remained with farmers after the Tenure Review was terminated. The government called for stricter controls on that remaining land, by boosting the power of the Commissioner of Crown Lands and called for submissions.

The Federated Farmers argued that the government's earlier action undermined the credibility of its later request for submissions on stage two of its reforms. Despite this, they put in a submission and raised several concerns that leaseholders had rights over the land they leased, and invested in over many years. The Land Information Minister Eugenie Sage said the objective of the termination of the Tenure Review was to help preserve biodiversity and landscape values for High Country land and other special regions. She said the Cabinet made the decision to make a clear commitment to the long-term role the Crown has in managing areas of the most important land.