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Parliamentary Questions


Question On Notice No. 1091 asked in the Legislative Council on 28 March 2018 by Hon Robin Chapple

Question Directed to the: Minister for Environment
Parliament: 40 Session: 1
Tabled Paper No: 1366- View tabled paper


Question

I refer to pastoral leases in the Kimberley and land clearing over the past five years to the present, and I ask:
(a) which of the pastoral leases have been subject to land clearing applications and for how many hectares;
(b) which of the pastoral leases have approval for land clearing and for how many hectares;
(c) which of the pastoral leases have been cleared and for how many hectares; and
(d) which of the pastoral leases have been cleared without a clearing permit and how many hectares were cleared?

Answered on 16 May 2018

(a) In the past five years, since May 2013, 34 clearing permit applications and applications to amend a clearing permit, have been made under Part V, Division 2 of the Environmental Protection Act 1986, for 21 pastoral leases in the Kimberley Land Division. A breakdown of each application is provided in Table 1 of tabled paper #.

 

(b) Table 2 of tabled paper # provides details of granted clearing permit applications relating to pastoral leases within the Kimberley Land Division.

 

(c-d) There is no consolidated dataset containing information on all pastoral leases in the Kimberly which have been cleared lawfully, unlawfully, or in accordance with a statutory approval or exemption. The Department of Water and Environmental Regulation is currently working towards improving the storage and use of datasets that are collected as part of statutory reporting requirements.    

 

The Department of Water and Environmental Regulation has investigated 12 matters involving seven pastoral leases where approximately 810 hectares have been cleared. Information regarding the pastoral lease where these clearing incidents were investigated is currently not publicly available as alleged offences have not been proven through the Courts.