Momentum is gathering for WA’s Outback
Recently at one of our meetings we had Emma Tan from Partnership for the Outback address us on the growing movement to improve the prospects of the future of pastoralists in our Outback.
| This following is from a communication from them: |
“A quiet revolution in Australia’s outback rangelands has been witnessed by three generations of Evan Pensini’s family. Pensini has a message: Australia’s station families need help to keep the revolution rolling.”
These words featured in The Australian newspaper recently as part of national coverage of the changes underway in WA’s Outback.
It’s a tribute to the impact that Our Outback, Our Story is having – thanks for being part of this growing movement to keep WA’s Outback great for the future.
The revolution that pastoralist Evan Pensini referred to in The Australian is the resolve of Outback station managers around WA to find ways of sustainably diversifying their businesses to help them care for the land.But as Evan Pensini says, station families need help to keep that revolution rolling.
Right now, land managers across WA are restricted by unfair laws that haven’t been changed in decades, despite the changing situation of the Outback. Put simply, if you hold a pastoral lease in WA, then you have no choice but to graze cattle, goats or sheep.
This prevents Outback families from moving into tourism, cultural enterprises, carbon farming or any number of other rewarding livelihoods that may be more suitable for their circumstances and for the land they manage.
The State Government is reforming these laws during 2016, so we’re working hard to make sure that the new laws will create the framework we need for a modern Outback – one that sustains people and values nature.
Evan and Robin Pensini, who run Cheela Plains Station in the Pilbara, are working hard to find ways of sustainably diversifying their business – they’ve set up a tourism business and have brought the land back to life through careful management of their livestock and keeping an eye on landscape health.
But it hasn’t been easy and, like so many of the people that we talk to across WA, Evan says that changing Outback laws “is a step in the right direction”.