Western Lands Act Review Benefits Far West Communities
Source: NSW. Minister for Lands. Media Release.

"Western Lands Act Review Benefits Far West Communities
A report on finetuning the Western Lands Act so it works better for leaseholders and their communities has been released.
The report of the statutory five-year review of the Western Lands Act has been tabled in parliament. Download Report (PDF 220 kb)
Work will now begin on the preparations of draft legislation and this consultation will involve further talks with the Western Lands Advisory Council and other relevant stakeholders.
The review found the Western Lands Act is generally working well, but recommends changing the law in several other ways including:
- strengthening of boundary fencing provisions with regard to maintenance and upgrading within the western division to ensure all stock are contained within a property to enable the creation of an easement up to 100 metres wide along the 600 kilometre long dog proof fence for access and maintenance works to the fence
- to facilitate the creation of the legal road network across all types of land in the western division - changes to the term of appointments to the Western Lands Advisory Council to bring about a degree of flexibility in the appointment of council members, with the provision for a nominee of the Minister for Mineral Resources to be appointed to the council
- clarify that the objects of the Act include reference to both indigenous and non-indigenous cultural heritage
- improving planning and development controls in the Unincorporated Area to bring those controls into line with other parts of the state.
The western division covered some 32.5 million hectares - or more than 40 per cent of the state.
Some 9.4 million hectares of that – 11 per cent of the state - is ‘unincorporated’, that is, it has no direct local government. Most of the land in the western division is Crown land administered under the Western Lands Act. It generally is west of a line from the Queensland border at Mungindi to Balranald near the Victorian border."