National Forum

Working with the Property Market to Care for Bushland
Abstract for Keith Bradby
Policy Officer Sustainable Rural Development Program
Agriculture Western Australia
Bushland for Sale
11:30-11:45, Wednesday, 21 March 2001

Western Australia has adopted a strategic approach to helping landholders who have large areas of bushland on their properties. The four key stages of this approach are:

• Providing better information on the benefits of retaining and managing bushland as an integral part of the farming operation.
• Providing incentives and removing disincentives wherever possible.
• Working through the market place to solve problems as much as possible.
• Providing a "safety net" for farmers significantly disadvantaged and for whom other solutions are not adequate.

Market place land solutions appear to offer the most potential. There are an increasing number of groups and individuals prepared to purchase and manage bushland motivated by a compatible mix of conservation and lifestyle reasons. Programs are in place to increase the rate at which this market expands.

An innovative planning policy has been introduced to facilitate the separation of large areas of bushland from the title of the farm. The "Subdivision for Conservation" policy requires a strong conservation covenant to be placed on the bushland. Additionally, "Survey Strata Titles" enable individuals to form a body corporate with responsibility for providing conservation management of an area, while retaining the ability to sell their "share".

A partnership is in place between the Real Estate Institute of Western Australia, World Wide Fund for Nature and the Soil and Land Conservation Council called Bush Brokers. This aims to increase conservation based land trading, and the market value of bushland, by stimulating potential buyers into action and improving the ability of agents to tap the conservation market. The partnership runs training days for agents, established a bush properties website, and is publishing a booklet profiling people who have purchased bush properties in the past. Other steps are planned.

While it is still early days, a small number of agents are already focussing more on this sector of the market. Additionally, there has been increased interaction between the commercial property sector, valuers, and the landcare movement.

Bushland conservation is well supported by a large number of people. The property market is an important avenue for turning that general support into specific actions and significantly increasing the number of bush areas that have some degree of conservation management.