A Full Repairing Lease: Inquiry into Ecologically Sustainable Land Management
Industry Commission inquiry report
This report was released by the Commonwealth Government on 20 April 1999.
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- Contents
Preliminaries
Cover, Copyright, Signing Page, Acknowledgement; Contents, Abbreviations, Glossary, Overview
1 Introduction
1.1 Agricultural land use
1.2 Agriculture's contribution to the economy
1.3 The inquiry
2 Environmental Impacts Associated with Agriculture
2.1 Biodiversity
2.2 Dryland salinity
2.3 Soil acidification
2.4 Acid sulfate soils
2.5 Soil structure decline
2.6 Soil erosion
2.7 Weeds
2.8 Pests
2.9 Exploitation of surface water
2.10 Quality of surface water
2.11 Exploitation of groundwater
2.12 Quality of groundwater
2.13 Impacts of irrigation
2.14 Urban expansion
3 Ecologically Sustainable Development
3.1 National Strategy for Ecologically Sustainable Development
3.2 Issues in implementing ESD
3.3 Conclusions
4 The Role of Government
4.1 Property rights
4.2 Externalities
4.3 Conservation values and public goods
4.4 Information
5 Current Policy Responses
5.1 Role of the Commonwealth
5.2 Role of State and Territory governments
5.3 Summary
6 The Case for Change
6.1 Poor policy responses
6.2 Implementation problems
6.3 Institutional weaknesses
6.4 Scope for reform
7 Proposals for Change
7.1 Regulatory reform
7.2 Markets and related measures
7.3 Private conservation and environmental altruism
7.4 Environmental knowledge and know-how
7.5 Institution building
7.6 Conclusion
8 A New Approach to Regulation
8.1 An environmental duty of care
8.2 Elaboration of the duty of care
9 Implementing the New Approach
9.1 A unifying statute
9.2 Voluntary standards
9.3 Mandated standards
9.4 Review of existing regulation
9.5 Enforcement
10 Information and Research
10.1 Information on the state of the environment
10.2 Gaps in ESLM research
10.3 Extension
10.4 Education and training
11 Forests and Native Vegetation
11.1 Separate tenure for land and trees
11.2 Double taxation of forestry profits
11.3 Harvesting rights
11.4 Activities of forestry agencies
11.5 Export controls on plantation-sourced wood
11.6 Carbon sequestration
12 Surface Water
12.1 Reform of exploitation of surface waters
12.2 Cost recovery and pricing
12.3 Tradeable water entitlements
12.4 Water for the environment
12.5 Trade issues
13 Groundwater
13.1 State of groundwater use
13.2 Consequences of use
13.3 Current policies and programs
13.4 Proposals for change
14 Water Quality
14.1 Existing tradeable permits
14.2 Scope for extension of tradeable permits
14.3 Commission's view
15 Native Flora and Fauna
15.1 Current approach to utilisation of wildlife
15.2 Issues in utilisation of wildlife
15.3 Commission's assessment
16 Encouraging Conservation and Remediation
16.1 National parks and state owned reserves
16.2 Environmental altruism
16.3 Use of regulatory measures
16.4 Conservation on private land
16.5 Income tax concessions
16.6 Conclusion
17 Natural Heritage Trust
17.1 The Natural Heritage Trust
17.2 Effectiveness of NHT Programs
17.3 Conclusions
18 Diversification in the Rangelands
18.1 Degradation in the rangelands
18.2 Alternative land use options
18.3 Impediments to diversification
18.4 Conclusion
19 Strengthening Institutions
19.1 Existing arrangements
19.2 Strengthening the institutions
19.3 Conclusion
20 Urban Encroachment
20.1 Participants' concerns
20.2 Key issues
Appendices
A Terms of reference
B Public consultation
C COAG water reforms - rural issues
D Natural Heritage Trust
E Income tax issues
F Conservation covenants, easements and agreements
References