Many agreements between the ACT government and its rural land holders are out of date, lack information and are improperly assessed and collated, a new report has found.
ACT Auditor-General Michael Harris's assessment of the agreements found that they are of "questionable" value with 31 of the 63 agreements not assessed within the past five years as required under legislation, 24 were over 10 years old, and 10 were up to 17 years old.
The report is the latest in a succession which have identified problems in the way in which the ACT manages its rural leaseholds.
As long as 11 years ago, a review of agreements found that lessees considered the agreements "a necessary inconvenience in order to attain their lease".
"Their attitude seems to be that the agreement should contain as little detail as possible, which minimises their obligations over the 5-year review period," the review stated.
Land management agreements are unique to the ACT. No other jurisdiction in Australia has a legal agreement with every rural landholder to deliver sustainable management of rural lands including the conservation of natural and cultural values.
The president of the ACT Rural Landholders' Association Tom Allan has been farming for 41 years. He said that a simplification of the agreements had taken place and that was warmly welcomed by farmers. His previous agreement ran to 42 pages of documents.
"There's really no need to overcomplicate these things," Mr Allan said.
"Agreements are all well and good but it's a contract that doesn't need to change that often unless there's a pressing need to do so, such as if a farm is sold, or if the land use changes significantly, or there's an overgrazing issue or an infestation problem."
The auditor's report was particularly critical of the ACT's Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development directorate's role in failing to ensure the "currency and utility" of the agreements. The report called in question the "quality and depth of information and assessment".
"This compromises their [the agreements'] ability to be used as an active and ongoing land management tool and hinders the directorate's ability to monitor and enforce rural leaseholder compliance with the agreements," Mr Harris concluded in his report.
As at March 2020, there were an estimated 180 land management agreements in existence in the ACT, with an oversight of around 27,000 hectares.
The agreements came about in the ACT after a 1997 rural policy taskforce produced a discussion paper entitled A Way Forward. The discussion paper recommended a range of changes to environment and land management obligations of rural leaseholders.
The Auditor-General also noted in his report that since 2009, "there have been a number of reports and reviews that have identified issues with the management and implementation of land management agreements".
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