Claraval farmers and the NT Government solve legal actions for non -permitted land compensation

The government of the northern territory has reached a settlement with the owners of a farm that has cleaned almost 300 hectares of land without a permit, ending a criminal prosecution that is believed to be the first of its kind in the territory.

In November 2023, the government launched legal actions against the Claraval farmers, claiming that 286 hectares of the property were cleaned without a land compensation permit, in contravention of the NT Planning Law.

It is believed to be the first time that a government has taken such legal measures in the NT history and came after an ABC investigation has discovered a supposed compensation of land without a permit to three properties.

On Monday, the NT government announced that it has reached a settlement with Claraval Farm owners, which will request them to reveal and protect an area of ​​80 hectares of land – separated from the land in which the compensation had not been allowed.

“This area will no longer be cleaned or disturbed by the local vegetation, no agricultural or business efforts are undertaken, and the area must be kept without weeds and fires,” said the average Minister, Joshua Burgoyne, in a statement.

The government said: “The defendants acknowledged that the vegetation was cleaned by them on a section of the Claravale farm, without a land compensation permit.”

He also said that the owners of the farm will pay the costs of the protected area, and the agreement will apply to both current and future owners.

Mr. Burgoyne told NT Country Hour that the new protected area has provided a “buffer area” between the farm operations and the Daly river, approaching a key concern by community members.

“The land along the Daly river was left to be cleaned, and in those closeness … the real legal action was on another land plot, beyond the river,” he said.

“What we managed to ensure here in this agreement is essentially a 250 -meter corridor … along a 1.5 kilometer stretch of the Daly river, which will now be protected from now and in the future, no matter who owns this land.”

Mr. Burgoyne said that the settlement was a better result than the continuation of the problem by court.

“(He has spent) two years in litigation. Now they will lose 80 hectares of land along a river and they will have to bear the cost of reveiting that area,” he told NT Country Hour.

“This was a long process … If we had allowed this, it would probably have continued for another two years.”

In a statement, the NT Environment Center stated that it was disappointed that the criminal prosecution was abandoned “despite an apparent admission of the guilt by the defendant”.

“The violation of the law is the violation of the law. There is no stimulant to do what you need when there are minimal repercussions for illegal conduct,” said executive director Kirsty Howey.

“The suggestion that a covenant for a small plot of land is a good result of the environment is laughing and is not at a distance from the type of reform needed to protect the iconic nature of the territory.”

Mrs. Howey said that she has now been “holder” on the NT government to reject a new request from Claravale Farm owners to delete almost 6,000 hectares at that property and the adjacent Claravale station.

The executive director of the NT farmers, Greg Toughton, described the settlement as a “sensitive”.

“The deletion must be done legally. When it is assumed it is not done in this way, there is and there should be consequences,” he said.

“It is not very often that you see a negotiated solution by which the environment wins with the establishment of a covenant to ensure that the land adjacent to the Daly river is forever protected from generations.”

Mr. Burgoyne said that, according to the previous prosecution, the maximum punishment for a person was a fine of $ 78,000, and for a corporation a fine of almost $ 400,000.

He said that the agreed facts of the problem will be made public.