Biodiversity

Conservation incentives

Conservation covenanting programs and the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997

Landowners entering covenants under approved conservation covenanting programs will be eligible for tax concessions (where they meet other relevant criteria).

Organisations wanting to gain approval for conservation covenanting programs for the purposes of the Income Tax Assessment Act, 1997 can do so by applying to the Australian Government Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts.

While a covenanting program may be approved by the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts there are other requirements which need to be met before a conservation covenant would be eligible for tax concessions. These other requirements are set out in legislation and explanatory memorandum, both of which can be found at http://law.ato.gov.au/atolaw/view.htm?docid=NEM/SM200118/NAT/ATO/00003. Land owners or covenanting organisations should seek advice from authoritative sources (e.g. Australian Tax Office, tax accountants) in order to fully understand the legislation.

Applying for approval of a conservation covenanting program

Applicants seeking approval of conservation covenanting programs are required to

Applicants who gain Ministerial approval will receive an approval certificate. The approval will be valid for three years after which it may be renewed subject to a review of the operation of the program.

Application form

Guidelines for approval of a conservation covenanting program

Please note: These guidelines may be reviewed from time to time. Stakeholders will be informed of proposed changes 12 months before these changes come into effect.

Please ensure that you specifically address each of the eight guidelines numbered below (note: prompts and questions at the end of some guidelines are designed to help you formulate your response).

1. Objectives

The main objectives of your conservation covenanting program should be to permanently protect, conserve and manage environmental values, through the use of a conservation covenanting instrument. The environmental values that are subject to a conservation covenant, under your program, should be of high significance, or quality, as determined in a national or regional context. Ideally, there should be an advisory board/technical committee/expert panel through which all conservation covenant applications are submitted for approval.

What constitutes high quality environmental value?

There are two parts to this question - namely, defining environmental value and defining what might constitute 'high quality'. In Australia, the environment is defined variously under a suite of laws and processes to suit a range of different purposes, resulting in definitions that range from narrow to broad.

The Australian Government's key environmental legislation, the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, defines the environment as including:

  1. ecosystems and their constituent parts, including people and communities; and
  2. natural and physical resources; and
  3. the qualities and characteristics of locations, places and areas, and
  4. the social, economic and cultural aspects of a thing mentioned in paragraph a, b or c.

The legislative amendments (of 1 October 2001) to the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997, relating to conservation covenants, were derived from a policy context that took account of the native vegetation focus of the current array of conservation covenanting programs in Australia. Therefore, at this time, for the purpose of implementing the conservation covenanting measures under the new legislation, the term 'environmental value' will focus on/apply to native vegetation, biodiversity, terrestrial ecosystems (including streams, rivers and wetlands), or native habitat with important conservation priority, as determined in a national or regional context. The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts reserves the right to expand this definition at any future point where warranted.

Any decision on whether the environmental values which are subject to a conservation covenant are of high significance, or quality, should be based on a number of factors, noting that the combination of factors will vary on a case-by-case basis. These factors include:

  1. the extent to which an area contains significant wildlife and habitat conservation values as determined in a national or regional context, or contains nationally endangered or threatened ecological communities or species;
  2. the extent to which an area contains wetlands of ecological significance (including international significance);
  3. the extent to which an area supports migratory species that are listed under the schedules of international agreements/conventions to which Australia is a signatory;
  4. the extent to which an area contains native vegetation or biodiversity with high State conservation priority or other special values, such as high localised endemism;
  5. the extent to which an area contains ecological communities or ecosystems that are under-reserved within the existing reserve system;
  6. continuity and context including proximity to, or location within, World Heritage and other protected areas;
  7. the extent to which an area is subject to levels of threat and degradation pressures, for example from surrounding land use or planned land use, weeds, feral animals, inappropriate fire management or grazing intensity;
  8. the potential for maintaining ecological viability and integrity of those populations, species and communities for which the land is being considered; and
  9. whether supplementary gains are achieved in the area of cultural heritage, soil conservation, or geodiversity, or water conservation, or air quality as a result of covenanting land with environmental value.

2. Duration and Title

To be eligible for tax concessions in accordance with section 31-5 under the Act, a conservation covenant must be permanent and should be registered on title (if registration is possible). It should be, therefore, binding on all successors in title.

3. Administering Body

The authority administering conservation covenants should be an established body that is likely to be in existence over the long term. The administering body should also be adequately resourced and capable of responding to a growing demand. It should also be pro-active in terms of seeking landholders who might wish to place covenants on areas of high conservation value. Once agreement on the terms of a covenant has been reached, there should be a capacity to register it shortly thereafter.

4. Restrictive Element

In accordance with section 31-5 (5) (a) under the Act, a conservation covenant must have the ability to restrict or prohibit certain activities on the land that could degrade the environmental values identified. These restrictions will vary on a case-by-case basis.

5. Plan of Management

The conservation covenanting program should include the requirement for a plan of management to be formulated, setting out management actions binding on, and to be carried out or adhered to by, the land owner and/or the administering body. The plan of management should be agreed between the administering body (and/or relevant government Minister) and the land owner, concurrent with the process of negotiating the conservation covenant, or within six months of the covenant being lodged. The plan of management may also specify and allow non-conservation related activities where those activities do not directly or indirectly diminish the environmental values of the land in question. The amount of detail in a management plan should vary according to the size and environmental complexity of the land in question. It should be reviewable at least every 5 years and whenever ownership changes. A mechanism must be in place to ensure that the administering body is notified, and land owners are contacted, when a property changes hands.

6. Stewardship

The administering body should have a stewardship program enabling it to provide ongoing assistance to the land owner. As part of this arrangement, a land owner should be able to access management/technical advice and assistance in return for conservation management activity. The stewardship arrangement should allow for periodic visits by the administering body, as a way of keeping in touch with the land owner and checking the condition of the land, and for special visits particularly where management problems arise or when a property changes hands. It should also allow for periodic telephone contact as a way of exchanging information and to assist in monitoring compliance. The stewardship program may provide financial assistance for specific management actions.

7. Monitoring and Compliance

The administering body should have strategies for monitoring compliance with the terms and conditions of a conservation covenant and plan of management. It should also be empowered, through legislation, to enforce the terms and conditions of a conservation covenant and plan of management. Alternatively, it should be able to apply to a Court of law for such orders as are necessary to secure compliance, or to remedy a default.

8. Security

Varying or terminating a conservation covenant should only occur with the mutual consent of the administering body and/or relevant government Minister and the land owner, and only under exceptional circumstances. However, there may also be exceptional circumstances where Ministers are able to exercise unilateral powers to terminate or vary a conservation covenant.

More information

Close up of bark on eucalyptus tree. Photo Joseph Lafferty

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