Pictured from left, Peter Anderson, Garlone
Moulin, Leanne O’Sullivan, Leigh Smith (OGBR)
Stakeholders get a say
REEF PR O T E CT IO N
REGU LAT I O N S
BBB graziers have had significant and meaningful input
into the design of the draft reef regulations before they
were passed as law in September 2019 (The Environmental
Protection (Great Barrier Reef Protection Measures) and
Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2019).
In late 2017, LDC hosted a workshop with BBB landholders
and OGBR representatives to discuss the draft reef
regulations package. Following this meeting, LDC submitted
a response to the draft regulations on behalf of the grazier
representatives, expressing concern the proposed 12-month
implementation time-frame of the reef regulations was
unreasonable.
The Government listened and, as a result, the regulations are
being staged over three years across the reef regions, starting
from 1 December 2019.
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LDC hosted another workshop in Bowen, attended by
landholders and Office of the G eat Barrier Reef (OGBR)
representatives, to discuss the proposed ‘grazing minimum
standards’, of the reef regulations. Discussion focused on the
graziers’ desire to see the regulations and compliance effort
focus on landholders who were not doing the right thing.
As a result of this feedback (and feedback from other
consultative workshops across the state), the minimum
standards were updated to focus on:
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maintaining land that is in good or fair condition; and
implementing measures to improve land in poor, or
degraded condition.
BBB landholders were consulted again during the
development of the guidance material. Landholders wanted
the guide to acknowledge that not all land and soil types
responded the same way throughout the reef catchments at
different times of the year, and that some gully systems were
too large for landholders to remediate by themselves.