The Territory Labor Government is cutting red tape and making the Territory an easy place to do business.

Supporting jobs and getting projects off the ground is a priority to this Government.

Today, the Minister for Agribusiness and Aquaculture announced a new Simplified Pastoral Land Clearing process to make regulatory approval more efficient and to support accelerated investment.

The new process is in response to the Territory Economic Reconstruction Commission’s final report, which recommended regulatory and administrative reform.

The new six-week simplified process starts from today and provides an alternative to the established six-month standard process.

Under this new red tape slashing process, lessees can now apply to clear up to 1000ha of native vegetation per application for non-irrigated purposes.

The simplified process ensures decision-making is proportionate to risk. That is, low risk and unconstrained land will be made more readily available for development through a shortened process.

Applications must meet specific environmental criteria outlined in the Pastoral Land Clearing Guidelines, thereby reducing environmental complexity and enabling an expedited assessment and approvals process.

To support the process, a new application forms, Policy and updated Guidelines have been developed and are available at https://nt.gov.au/property/land-clearing/pastoral-land/clearing-native-vegetation-on-pastoral-land

Quotes attributed to the Minister for Agribusiness and Aquaculture, Nicole Manison:

“We are cutting red tape because we want the Territory to be the easiest place to do business.

“This new Simplified Pastoral Land Clearing process will make approvals more efficient and streamlined, making sure works are done quicker with more local job opportunities.

“With an area of approximately 596,542km2, the NT pastoral estate comprises 45 per cent of the NT's land mass held under 224 pastoral leases. We want more projects and more investment to cement the Territory as Australia’s comeback capital.”

Media Contact - Alex Cannon 0407 239 967