Pastoral land chief quits in row with State Government

The head of the body that administers pastoral leases in WA has quit in disgust amid hotly contested moves by the State Government to overhaul the industry.

Pastoral Lands Board chairwoman Leanne Corker wrote to Lands Minister Terry Redman this week saying plans to scrap the body made her position untenable.

In the scathing letter, Mrs Corker took aim at the minister and the Department of Lands for the way they had handled the plans, saying they had been dismissive and disrespectful.

She also expressed outrage at claims by an “officer” from the department that potential for real or perceived conflict of interests on the board affected its integrity, arguing they were defamatory and insulting.

The letter comes as the Government tries to dissolve the board as part of a revamp of WA’s pastoral industry and the vast “rangelands” on which it operates.

Under the current system, the board is effectively the State’s landlord of pastoral leases and helps determine lease applications.

Mr Redman wants to change the system by scrapping the PLB and establishing a separate board that includes interest groups who pastoralists worry are hostile to the industry.

A bigger concern was that the plans would hand much more power to the department through the minister.

Mrs Corker said though the board was first kept informed of the plans it had been “intentionally kept in the dark” leading up to the announcement. She saved her most savage criticism for the department, saying it sought to “undermine, fragment and effectively stymie” the board’s pursuit of its objectives while “never” providing it with enough resources.

Mr Redman said he was disappointed by Mrs Corker’s resignation while noting he had always found PLB members “to be of high integrity and passionate about the pastoral industry”.

He said there had been much consultation with the industry about the reforms.