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Parliamentary Questions


Question Without Notice No. 813 asked in the Legislative Council on 8 November 2017 by Hon Dr Steve Thomas

Parliament: 40 Session: 1


PASTORAL LANDS BOARD — DIVERSIFICATION PERMIT APPLICATIONS
      813. Hon Dr STEVE THOMAS to the minister representing the Minister for Lands:
I refer to page 34 of the Western Australian Department of Lands 2016–17 annual report where it states, in relation to the Pastoral Lands Board —
      During 2016–17, 26 diversification permit applications were received. Whilst the majority of these related to conventional activities, such as irrigated fodder crops and pastoral tourism, non-traditional purposes (such as carbon abatement through fire management) were also included. This increased demand has created bottlenecks in the processing and grant of clearing permits and water licences.
      (1) How can 26 applications for diversification in a year, or just over two a month, be such an impost as to cause a bottleneck?
(2) What is the average length of time required for the processing of these applications?
(3) What is the cost to the leaseholders of the delays caused by such bottlenecks?
      (4) What is the cost to the regional economy, including employment, of the department or the board being unable to process these applications, by their own admission, in a timely manner?
Hon STEPHEN DAWSON replied:
I thank the member for some notice of the question.
      (1)–(4) Only the Pastoral Lands Board has the power to issue diversification permits under part 7, division 5 of the Land Administration Act 1997. The LAA precludes the PLB from issuing diversification permits unless a range of other statutory requirements are satisfied. These may include native vegetation clearing permits and water licences. There was an unusually high number of permit applications received in 2016–17, with 26 applications received compared with 13 in the previous year. On average, the total period for the permit application assessment and issuing is between 22 and 28 weeks. The majority of this time frame centres on seeking and obtaining relevant clearances and the complexity, scale and location of the particular application.