The Albanese government has kickstarted its multi-million dollar plan to buy 100 million acres of privately-owned land to help meet its target to conserve 30 per cent of the nation’s land by 2030.
While the National Farmers’ Federation, whose members manage more than half the continent, has not opposed the $250 million program it believes could strengthen regional landscapes, it has raised concerns that poor planning and maintenance could create problems that fall directly onto neighbouring farms.
Close to 25 per cent of Australia’s total landmass is currently protected, a size equivalent to New Zealand, the funding was released in this year’s budget to purchase the remainder.
To get the ball rolling, the Department of Climate Change, Environment, Energy and Water released a Request for Information this week seeking stakeholder feedback on the design of the strategic land purchase component of the Saving Australia’s Bushland Program (SABP).
The announcement follows Environment Minister Murray Watt telling the National Press Club in Canberra last month that the rapid revival of degraded farmland will play a central role in the government’s plans for nature restoration and overhaul of the nation’s environmental laws.
The five-year SABP scheme is voluntary and targeted at “willing sellers”.
Senator Watt said this week that the RFI would help settle the program;s guardrails and the government would begin “working with purchasing partners” next year.
“We particularly want to hear from government and non-government organisations with experience in purchasing, protecting and managing land to deliver biodiversity and conservation outcomes,” he said.
Australia joined the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework in 2022, an international agreement adopted as part of a global strategy to prevent and reverse biodiversity loss through 30 per cent by 2030 plans.
In a submission last month to a Discussion Paper to inform Australia’s Strategy for Nature 2024-2030, the NFF said striving for that target must not impinge on productive agricultural land and that a condition of sale or funding for the new protected and conserved areas must include strict and ongoing management obligations.
The latter would help mitigate risks around the areas becoming neglected and “safe havens” for invasive species that might threaten neighbouring agricultural production, as well as increasing the risk of bushfires.
It also suggested a shared role must be played by state and territory governments through co-investment or complementary programs and called for “continued and increased funding to support management outcomes across the entire National Reserve System”.
A 30 by 30 road map released by the Department of Climate Change, Environment, Energy and Water in December 2024 said the SABP presented an opportunity for “motivated landholders” to voluntarily protect biodiversity on their properties, with broader benefits including income diversification and “increased farm productivity due to healthier natural assets.” .
“This could have a significant impact because 70 per cent to 90 per cent of poorly protected or unprotected biodiversity is on private land,” it said.
It also said that any efforts to increase biodiversity must consider potential trade-offs and factor in activities such as agriculture, mining, forestry, renewable energy infrastructure and urban expansion.
“In some instances, designation as a protected area or recognition as a conserved area may not be appropriate for a site due to other priorities, existing land uses, or the condition of biodiversity,” it said.
Senator Watt’s long-anticipated bills amending the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act passed the lower house two weeks ago and were immediately sent to a Senate inquiry.
Meanwhile, the government has worked with industry in releasing its Ag and Land Sector Plan, that does not impose a hard carbon footprint reductions target, as well as sponsoring a range of on-farm carbon reduction programs.
However, Canberra’s footprint on private land has also grown across the regions since Labor came to power in May 2022, including with policies that have sought to slash land clearing and increase re-vegetation opening the door for carbon farming and carbon storage, variously embraced and fought by industry, and opening up larger swaths of countryside for the renewable roll-out.
The 30 by 30 scheme is designed to also complement the Nature Repair Market.
Nationals leader David Littleproud told ACM-Agri that it was “very concerning” that the government’s policies relating to biodiversity and the climate “all involve taking agricultural land out of production”.
“Direct environmental action should not be about locking up agricultural land, especially when 95 per cent of Australia’s emission reductions to date have only been achieved by locking up our productive landscape,” he said.
“This has permanent negative impacts on the world’s food security and for Australia’s rural and regional communities.”
The Coalition has also flagged that it may push for the government to reestablish veto powers that would allow the Agriculture Minister to halt native forest vegetation projects if they had adverse impacts on farmland.
NFF president Hamish McIntyre told the ABC on Monday that, broadly-speaking, the loss of land to native forest re-vegetation and renewable projects presented a “big threat” to farming.
“We support viable communities across Australia and agriculture, what we don’t support is prime agricultural land being turned into offsets,” he said.
A spokesperson for the Australian Land Conservation Alliance said it was important that the program strengthened Australia’s network of protected areas.
“If the program is well-designed, it will unlock co-investment from state and territory governments, international philanthropy, and the private sector, which would help funds go further, and deliver greater impact for nature and people,” the spokesperson said.
However, the $250 million funding is a fraction of a $5 billion green fund the conservation sector proposed in 2023 was needed to reach the 30 by 30 goal.
Most of the 25 per cent of land already conserved was locked away through the Indigenous Protected Areas Program, while the SABP follows in the footsteps of the similar National Reserve System Programme that ran for five years from 2008.
