Special Wildlife Reserves give national park status to private land

Under the new laws Queensland has become the first state in Australia to create Special Wildlife Reserves, a new category of protected areas, which Environment Minister Leeanne Enoch said was delivering on an election commitment to better protect land of high conservation value.

"Special Wildlife Reserves will provide national park level protection for private land of exceptional natural and cultural value," Ms Enoch said.

"This is another way for landholders to contribute to conserving Queensland's unique biodiversity, without the need to hand their land over to the state.

"These vital reforms - the first of their kind in Australia - are ensuring ecologically important areas are protected now, and into the future."

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The Queensland Law Society has questioned that statement, saying the definition the legislation gave for declaring a special wildlife reserve - "an interest the minister considers to be an economic, environmental or community interest of the state" - strayed from its stated purpose of ecological protection.

It also said it was "excessively wide and uncertain" and gave "broad power to the minister".

Its submission to the 2017 version of the Bill noted that land use planning principles require that land is utilised for its highest and best use, and recommended that the section include a requirement that consideration be given to these principles.

"This recommendation has not been taken up in the Bill," the society commented. "Rather, the amended drafting...is now even broader."

In doing so, the society said the methodology to be used didn't conform to the purported intention of the Bill, to "establish a new class of privately owned or managed protected area that will allow for the protection of lands of outstanding conservation value from incompatible land uses".

"By retaining a reference to 'state interest'...the Bill does not achieve this objective," it said.

Gregory MP Lachlan Millar said the Nature Conservation (Special Wildlife Reserves) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill had given the new land category the protected status of a national park bestowed in perpetuity, although the land will remain in private ownership.

"It is completely unclear how the land management practices of these private reserves will be overseen by government," Mr Millar said.

"Under the legislation, there are no strict criteria an applicant has to meet. It is completely unclear how the land management practices of these private reserves will be overseen by government.

"The legislation does not say who has the approval over such plans or what financial guarantees will be given to ensure the plans will be carried out. This is important because the status is bestowed forever.

"The legislation does not say which department will have the powers to police the implementation of land management on this private ground in real time.

"Even the National Parks Association of Queensland has been scathing about the lack of accountability for conservation land that is being handed to private interests."

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Mr Millar said there was no complaints or disputes resolution process in the legislation, so it was unclear whether neighbouring landholders could complain about impacts on their land.

"Under the law, someone can buy up the neighbouring leasehold or freehold and move to have it declared a Special Wildlife Reserve and the neighbours don't even have to be told.

"All that is specified is a newspaper advertisement. Which newspaper to watch the classifieds in is unclear.

"A more responsible approach, given the permanent impacts on neighbours, would be to require they be notified by registered mail.

"However, there is no framework to object to such a declaration or to have input to the management plan of the reserve. This is true even when the neighbouring landholder is a local government."

Mr Millar also described the legislation as "an invitation to vexatious users", such as wealthy overseas groups like the Pew Charitable Trusts.

"The Sunrise Project is another group with global links and the stated goal of shutting down Australia's coal industry," he said.

"Buying strategically located land and having it declared a special wildlife reserve is a cheap and easy way to block mines, ports and railways.

"But it would be equally vexatious if the land were to be tied up by communes or cult-like groups which lack the finance or skills to maintain the reserve. Such groups may then fizzle out but the land retains its special status.

"I am aghast that any government would be so reckless to pass legislation so riddled with error, oversight and evasion.

"It will leave a terrible legacy and reinforces the credibility of the AgForce revelation of a secret deal between Labor and the Greens prior to the last election."

Ms Enoch said the reserves would have the same protections as national parks, meaning land uses like mining and forestry would not be permitted in them.

"Management of these reserves will be in accordance with strict statutory management principles and an approved management regime," she said.

"Under this legislation, landholders will be able to attract investment from conversation organisations, from Australia and overseas, to support their efforts in managing special wildlife reserves."

The Palaszczuk government has increased the protected area estate in Queensland by more than one million hectares since 2015.

"Queensland's protected area estate now covers more than 8 per cent of the state, which is an area more than twice the size of Tasmania," Ms Enoch said.

"This important piece of legislation builds on that work."