Mulloon Law Committee update
L-R: Matt Egerton-Warburton (MLC Chair), Mark Beaufoy, Wilfred Finn, Dr Gerry Bates
Did you know 42% of NSW was Crown Land?
Prof Richard Bush GAICD, the Crown Land Commissioner, is conducting a review into the effectiveness of the Crown Lands Management Act.
The Law Committee of The Mulloon Institute (which now includes Dr Gerry Bates) submitted our comments on the Act last week (attached).
Our premise is that, at present, the Act is focused on the protection and conservation of the current landscape, but the problem is that the current landscape is dehydrated and degraded.
Therefore, it is not enough to preserve the land in its current state - the Act should proactively encourage and facilitate the rehabilitation and rehydration of Crown land.
We suggest amendments to the Act which:
allow lessees to construct Landscape Rehydration Works (including leaky weirs) without the need for Crown approval;
incentivise lessees to construct Landscape Rehydration Works;
encourages the Crown to rehydrate its land; and
encourages the Crown to commission one major Western District catchment pilot project.
The committee have recently submitted these papers:
The Mulloon Law Committee advises the Mulloon Institute’s Board on specific legal and regulatory issues, with their initial task being to review approvals needed to implement catchment remediation projects and to suggest and lobby for sensible legislative and regulatory reforms.