Part 6A of the LAA provides that the Minister may grant a diversification lease to provide for proponents to conduct single, or multiple, land uses on a large area of Crown land, where the proposed lease purpose(s) can coexist with other land uses.
The permitted uses of the land under a diversification lease will be set out in the lease as agreed by the parties, and so is flexible. A diversification lease is designed for broadscale uses such as:
- carbon farming
- multiple concurrent uses – e.g. grazing livestock, horticulture, agriculture, tourism, carbon farming
- Aboriginal economic development and land management
- environmental offsets for mining companies or where their activities are substantially inconsistent with existing pastoral uses
- conservation purposes
- renewable energy.
Native title rights and interests will not be extinguished for the grant of a diversification lease and a diversification lease proponent is required to negotiate an Indigenous Land Use Agreement (ILUA) with the relevant native title party(s) prior to the grant of a diversification lease.
A diversification lease will coexist with mining rights in a similar way as pastoral leases, so that mining tenement holders will have a right of access to the land.
As for leases under Part 6 of the LAA, the Minister for Lands has broad powers in respect of the terms, reservations, covenants or penalties that can be included in a diversification lease, including options to renew. An option to purchase the land in freehold cannot be included in a diversification lease, as is also the case for pastoral leases.
For diversification lease enquiries and applications, please submit a Crown Land Enquiry Form and review the Guidance for Diversification Lease Proposals and Policy Framework below, for information on how to ensure capability and capacity to deliver the proposal is demonstrated.
Before preparing and submitting a proposal for a diversification lease, it is recommended that proponents contact the Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage, and ask to speak to a representative from the Land Use Management division for the Local Government area/region.
