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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-03-27 Daily Xml
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PASTORAL LEASE RENTS

The Hon. J.S.L. DAWKINS (15:13): As a further supplementary: will the minister concede that, in the great majority, pastoralists are excellent conservationists?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Minister for Forests, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Tourism, Minister for the Status of Women) (15:13): I absolutely concur with the honourable member. I have met a number of them—remarkable people who have shown me around their stations. I have had the great privilege to be able to fly around some of these stations. It is quite remarkable and truly amazing. I am astounded at the incredibly harsh environment in which they live and the enormous degree of self-reliance that is required of them. They are, as I said, truly remarkable.

I have not met one pastoralist yet who does not absolutely understand the importance of getting that balance right. The way they manage their stock in terms of numbers: they de-stock when they need to and increase their numbers when they need to. The way they manage the waterholes: there are very few examples of those who fail to do that really well. I absolutely concur with the Hon. John Dawkins that they are indeed very good at understanding the importance of conservation. They are also very good at balancing that with making an income, and that is their purpose.

Many of these stations are hugely successful businesses. Not all are successful (some of the smaller players are having trouble) but particularly the larger players have managed extremely successful businesses over a very long period of time, and that has been a balancing act between good years and bad years, stocking and destocking and managing their assets, including their environmental assets, extremely well. But that does not mean that we should not be continuing to develop and involve new and better ways of managing those environmental values. I still think it is very important that the Department of Environment and Natural Resources does have input into that as we continue to strive for better practices to better conserve our environment and to maximise outcomes for our pastoralists.

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