The Regulations elaborate several recurring legal and administrative concepts from the Act, converting them into prescriptive operational rules.

1. Administrative process and evidence management for the Board:

   • Notice and timing for Board meetings must generally be at least 14 days unless parties agree to a shorter period (r 3).
   • Communications intended to influence Board recommendations or decisions are prohibited before or after meetings (r 4, maximum 40 penalty units). Interruptions and disturbances during meetings are also prohibited (r 5, maximum 15 penalty units). These rules function as procedural integrity safeguards.

2. Standardisation of lease content:

   • A statutory default definition of “stock” applies in pastoral leases unless the lease provides otherwise (r 6). This establishes a baseline for what animals are treated as stock for lease purposes.

3. Insurance and financial recovery:

   • Where a lessee is paying for improvements by instalments, the lessee must insure improvements for full insurable value, in the joint names of lessee and Territory, provide copies of the policy and premium receipts within prescribed timeframes, and the Minister may step in to insure and recover costs with interest (r 7(1)-(7)). The recovery mechanism is civil debt (r 7(6)).

4. Surrender, mapping and land title formalities:

   • Surrenders require Ministerial-approved form and Ministerial acceptance, after which instruments are lodged with the Registrar-General and a new plan prepared where part only of a lease is surrendered (rr 8-10).

5. Property disposition following destocking:

   • Where the Minister removes stock under s 42, the stock is to be disposed by contract or open market sale and purchasers obtain good title free of encumbrance (r 11(1)). Sale proceeds are first applied to sale expenses, then to destocking expenses and mortgages before any balance goes to the lessee (r 11(2)).

6. Rent and interest:

   • Additional particulars are prescribed for rent notices required by s 56 of the Act (r 12). Late payment interest for s 57 is the statutory interest rate under the Taxation Administration Act 2007 (r 12A). For other debts to the Territory interest accrues at 1% above the Commonwealth Bank of Australia standard overdraft rate with quarterly rests (r 29).

7. Monitoring and enforcement:

   • Monitoring sites must be physically marked and tagged with specified wording (r 13).
   • A series of specific conduct prohibitions applies to persons accessing land under Part 6 of the Act (r 14), with courts able to order restoration and compensation in addition to penalties (r 15).

8. Licensing to enter and take materials:

   • Applications for licences under s 84 must be written, accompanied by the prescribed fee, and include prescribed identity, occupation, land description and purpose information (r 16). The Minister may specify conditions including royalty amounts and periods of entry (rr 16-24). Licensees have obligations to notify lessees prior to entry, to comply with reasonable requests, to provide returns of material taken, and to pay royalties specified in notices (rr 17, 21, 22).

9. Record-keeping and reporting:

   • Lessees must maintain continuous records per separate pastoral lease of stock levels and feral animal control measures as directed by the Board (r 28).

10. Prescribed non-pastoral purposes:

• The Regulations specify purposes that, when authorised under s 68(5), are treated as prescribed uses, including power generation and transmission, pipelines, telecommunications facilities (cross-referencing the Commonwealth Telecommunications Act), scientific and surveying infrastructure, satellite communications, commercial tourist enterprises, and keeping or breeding animals other than stock (r 31).

These concepts reallocate the Act’s general powers into concrete duties, timing rules, documentation obligations and penalties. Where the Regulations reference other statutes (for example the Firearms Act 1997, Weeds Management Act 2001, Taxation Administration Act 2007 and the Telecommunications Act 1997 (Cth)), they import definitional or rate-setting elements from those statutes into the pastoral context (see r 14(d) and (h), r 12A, and r 31(ba)).

The Regulations allocate obligations and powers among several identifiable actors: pastoral lessees, applicants and licensees under s 84 of the Act, the Minister, the Board, purchasers of stock removed by the Minister, the Registrar-General and courts. They also intersect with non-territory entities when Commonwealth definitions are imported.

• Pastoral lessees:

  • Have a range of specific obligations. They must insure improvements where purchase by instalments applies, maintain continuous records of stock levels and measures taken against feral animals for each separate lease (r 7(1)-(4), r 28), and are the primary persons entitled to be notified before licensees enter land (r 17(2)). Lessees are the recipients of potential restoration and compensation orders when damage is caused by visitors (r 15).

• Applicants and licensees (under s 84 of the Act):

  • Must apply in writing with a prescribed fee and specific information (r 16(1)), are subject to the Minister’s notice specifying entry periods, must give reasonable notice to the lessee prior to entry and comply with reasonable lessee requests (r 17), may be required to produce the Minister’s notice (r 19), may issue employer identification certificates to persons they employ for exercising licence rights (r 20), must provide returns specifying amounts removed if required by the Minister (r 21), and must pay royalties where determined and specified in the notice (r 22). Failure to comply with licence conditions can lead to revocation by the Minister (r 24).

• Minister:

  • Has administrative and enforcement roles: may accept or refuse licence applications, set royalties and conditions, require returns, insure improvements on default and recover costs with interest, lodge surrenders and amended plans with the Registrar-General, dispose of stock removed under s 42, and revoke licences on specified grounds or at discretion with partial refunds (rr 7, 8-11, 16-24). The Minister also receives insurance policies and premium receipts and may recover expenditure as a debt (r 7(3)-(6)).

• Board:

  • Must give reasons in reports or notices for actions that may be reviewed by the Tribunal (r 30), and is subject to rules about meeting notice to interested parties (r 3) and prohibitions on external influence (r 4). The Board may direct feral animal control measures, the implementation of which lessees must record (r 28).

• Courts and Tribunal:

  • Courts can impose penalties for offences under the Regulations and order restoration costs and compensation (r 15). The Board’s duty to provide reasons (r 30) is expressly tied to review by the Northern Territory Civil and Administrative Tribunal under the Act.

• Purchasers of destocked stock:

  • Obtain good title free of encumbrance when buying stock disposed of under s 42(1) (r 11(1)). However, proceeds are applied to sale expenses, destocking costs and to discharge any registered mortgage before any remainder is paid to the lessee (r 11(2)).

• Registrar-General:

  • Receives surrender instruments and amended plans after partial surrenders (rr 9-10), engaging land title formalities.

• Cross-referenced regulators and statutes:

  • The Regulations import definitions and rates from other legislation. For example, use of firearms is defined by the Firearms Act 1997 (r 14(d)); declared weeds references the Weeds Management Act 2001 (r 14(h)); interest for late payment refers to the Taxation Administration Act 2007 statutory interest rate (r 12A); and prescribed purposes refer to facility definitions in the Telecommunications Act 1997 (Cth) (r 31(ba)).

Who pays, who decides and who records:

• Lessees principally pay for insurance, maintain records and bear the risk of losing insurance discipline (r 7 and r 28).
• The Minister decides on licensing, royalties, insurance stepping-in, and surrender acceptance (rr 7, 8, 16-24).
• The Board decides on measures such as directions to control feral animals and must provide reasons where Tribunal review is available (r 30, r 28).
• Courts decide on penalties and compensation and have jurisdiction to assess damages (r 15(2)).

The Regulations therefore create a web of interlocking obligations across governmental and private actors, with explicit document and timing requirements that translate into compliance costs, monitoring requirements and potential exposure to penalties and debt recovery.

This section sets out the regulations’ principal prescriptive duties and the principal rights that attach to licence-holders and purchasers under the Regulations, citing the specific provisions.

Duties imposed on lessees:

• Insure improvements if purchase by instalments applies, insure to full insurable value against destruction by fire, storm, flood or other event, insure in joint names of lessee and Territory, provide the Minister with a copy of the policy within one month of issue and provide receipts for premiums within one month of their due date (r 7(1)-(4)). Failure permits the Minister to insure and recover costs as a debt with interest (r 7(5)-(6)). All insurance proceeds are to be applied to reinstating improvements or otherwise as approved by the Minister (r 7(7)).
• Maintain continuous records for each area of pastoral land held under a separate lease of stock levels and measures taken to control feral animals as directed by the Board (r 28). Non‑compliance carries a maximum penalty of 15 penalty units.
• Comply with reasonable requests by licensees entering land and allow them access within periods specified by the Minister, subject to the licensee first giving reasonable notice to the lessee (r 17(1)-(2)).

Duties imposed on licensees (part 6 licences under s 84 of the Act):

• Apply in writing, pay the prescribed fee, and include full name, address, occupation, description of the area and purpose (r 16(1)).
• Observe the periods of entry specified in the Minister’s notice, and not enter beyond those periods (r 17(1)).
• Give reasonable notice to the lessee before entry and comply with reasonable requests for identification and to avoid unnecessary interference with pastoral operations (r 17(2); max penalty 4 penalty units).
• Produce the Minister’s notice to the Minister or the lessee or agent when required (r 19; max penalty 4 penalty units).
• Issue certificates in a Minister-approved form to persons they employ to enter land, and ensure those employees enter only during the allowed periods and are treated as if they are the licensee for the application of the Regulations (r 20).
• Provide returns of material taken in the form and times required by the Minister, accurately indicating amounts taken (r 21; max penalty 4 penalty units).
• Pay royalties at the amount or rate determined by the Minister and specified in the Minister’s notice, at the times and places specified (r 22). If the royalty is fixed and unacceptable, the licensee can opt not to exercise rights and obtain a refund of the application fee upon return of the Minister’s notice (r 23).

Duties and powers of the Minister:

• Can license, refuse, or return applications for amendment (r 16(2)).
• Can determine and specify royalties, require returns and issue notices setting periods of entry (rr 16, 21, 22).
• May insure improvements and recover costs with interest where lessee fails to comply (r 7(5)-(6)).
• On accepting surrenders must lodge instruments with the Registrar-General and cause new plans to be prepared where leases are partly surrendered (rr 8-10).
• In destocking under the Act, must dispose of stock by contract or market sale and apply proceeds first to sale and destocking expenses, then to discharge registered mortgages, and then to the lessee (r 11).
• May revoke a licensee’s notice for specific failures (noncompliance with licence conditions, requirements under the Act or Regulations, or failure to pay fees/royalties), and may revoke at absolute discretion with refund of an appropriate percentage of the fee where revocation is not under the specified failures (r 24(1)-(2)).

Rights conferred:

• Buyers of stock disposed of under the Minister’s destocking powers obtain good title free of encumbrance (r 11(1)).
• Licensees who find a determined royalty unacceptable may return the Minister’s notice and obtain a refund of their fee, effectively a limited right to refuse the licence on royalty grounds (r 23).
• Courts may, in addition to penalties, order persons who damage pastoral land to pay restoration costs and compensation, and courts have jurisdiction to assess the amounts (r 15(1)-(2)).
• Parties entitled to appear or required to give evidence must be given notice of the time and place of Board meetings not less than 14 days in advance, unless parties agree to a shorter notice (r 3).

Other obligations and constraints:

• Persons (including applicants, licensees and visitors) on pastoral land under Part 6 must not wilfully or negligently damage property, unreasonably interfere with pastoral operations, leave gates otherwise than as found, use firearms except with lessee permission or under other law, light fires except in constructed fireplaces or cleared areas, drive vehicles where likely to cause erosion or degradation, pollute or litter, or cut living plants that are not declared weeds under the Weeds Management Act 2001 (r 14). The maximum penalty is 40 penalty units.

Documentation, timing and monetary mechanisms:

• Insurance documents and premium receipts must be provided within one month (r 7(3)-(4)).
• The Minister’s notice governs periods of entry and royalty terms (rr 16, 22).
• Interest on certain late payments is fixed by reference to the statutory interest rate in the Taxation Administration Act 2007 (r 12A) and other Territory debts bear interest at 1% above the CBA standard overdraft rate with quarterly rests (r 29).

These duties and rights structure routine pastoral operations, access regimes for third parties and the fiscal and administrative consequences of noncompliance. The practical effect is to require recordation, timeliness and formal documentation for many interactions with the Minister and the Board.

The Regulations prescribe criminal or civil penalties, debt recovery mechanisms, and court powers for enforcement. The forms of sanction fall into three main categories: penalty units for offences, civil recovery as a debt to the Territory, and court-ordered restoration and compensation.

Monetary penalties measured in penalty units:

• Prohibited communications with Board members before or after meetings carry a maximum penalty of 40 penalty units (r 4).
• Prohibitions on interrupting Board proceedings attract a maximum penalty of 15 penalty units (r 5).
• Prohibited conduct by persons on pastoral land (reg 14), including wilful or negligent damage, interference with pastoral operations, misuse of firearms, inappropriate use of fire, driving likely to cause erosion, pollution and cutting protected plants, carries a maximum penalty of 40 penalty units (r 14).
• Failure by a licensee to comply with notice production or to comply with entry conditions carries a maximum penalty of 4 penalty units for failing to produce a notice (r 19) and for non-compliance in relation to entry conditions (r 17(2) includes a maximum penalty of 4 penalty units).
• Failure by a licensee to comply with a required return regarding material taken attracts a maximum penalty of 4 penalty units (r 21).
• Failure by a pastoral lessee to keep continuous records of stock levels and feral animal control measures attracts a maximum penalty of 15 penalty units (r 28).

The Regulations do not set penalty unit monetary values; penalties are expressed in unit numbers and therefore the monetary amount depends on the current statutory value of a penalty unit under Territory law.

Debt recovery and interest:

• Where the Minister insures improvements because the lessee has failed to do so, the moneys expended by the Minister, with interest at the rate in regulation 29 computed from the time the moneys were expended, are payable by the lessee on demand and may be recovered as a debt due to the Territory (r 7(6)). Regulation 29 specifies interest accrual on debts due to the Territory (other than under s 59 of the Act) at 1% above the Commonwealth Bank of Australia standard overdraft rate applicable on the first working day of each relevant quarter, commencing one month after the amount first became payable with quarterly rests (r 29).
• For late payment under s 57 of the Act, regulation 12A fixes the rate of interest as the statutory interest rate under the Taxation Administration Act 2007 (r 12A(1)).

Court powers:

• Courts imposing penalties for offences under regulation 14 may also order the guilty person to pay the cost of restoration or likely restoration costs and compensation for loss to the lessee, the Territory, or another person as the court directs (r 15(1)). The court has jurisdiction to assess damages or compensation (r 15(2)).

Administrative revocation:

• The Minister may revoke a licence notice where the licensee fails to comply with licence conditions, the Act or the Regulations, or fails to pay required fees or royalties on time (r 24(1)). The Minister also has an absolute discretion to revoke and, except where revocation is for specified failures, must refund such percentage of the fee as the Minister thinks appropriate (r 24(2)). This is an administrative, discretionary sanction with a refund mechanism.

Title and disposition protections:

• Purchasers of stock disposed of under the Minister’s exercise of s 42 obtain good title free of encumbrance (r 11(1)). At the same time, the proceeds of sale are applied first to sale-related expenses, then to destocking and other expenses incurred by the Minister, and then to discharge registered mortgages of the stock before any balance is paid to the lessee (r 11(2)). This creates a hierarchy of payment that affects lessees’ financial exposure following destocking.

Notice and procedural enforcement:

• The Board must give reasons in reports or notices for actions that may be reviewed by the Tribunal (r 30). This is a procedural safeguard that facilitates administrative review, but the Regulations do not themselves prescribe a remedial procedure beyond the requirement to provide reasons.

Overall enforcement is therefore a mix of criminal-style penalty units for certain offences, civil debt recovery and interest for specified financial defaults, court-ordered restitution and compensation for damage, and administrative revocation of licences. These mechanisms create financial and legal consequences for a range of failures: procedural misconduct before the Board, damage and interference with pastoral operations, failure to keep records, late payment or non-payment of fees and royalties, and failure to insure improvements when required.

The Regulations operate in a web of statutory cross-references and administrative interfaces, importing definitions, rate-setting mechanisms and administrative routes from other Territory and Commonwealth statutes. Below are the principal interactions the Regulations themselves establish.

References to the Pastoral Land Act 1992:

• The Regulations are made under the Pastoral Land Act 1992 and repeatedly implement or give effect to specified sections of that Act. Examples include: s 42 (destocking and removal of stock, r 11), s 54 (carrying capacity referenced in rent notices, r 12), s 56 (rent notices, r 12), s 57 (late payment interest, r 12A), s 68(5) (prescribed purposes, r 31), s 73 (Board directions on feral animals, recorded under r 28), s 75 (monitoring sites, r 13), s 79 (perennial natural waters and access, r 14), s 84 (licensing to enter and take materials, rr 16-24), and s 124(2) (interest on debts, r 29). The Regulations therefore elaborate how the Act’s general provisions will operate in practice.

Taxation Administration Act 2007:

• The rate of interest for late payment under s 57 of the Act is defined to be the statutory interest rate as in force from time to time under section 35(1) of the Taxation Administration Act 2007 (r 12A(1)-(2)). This ties pastoral rent late-payment interest to the Territory’s statutory interest regime used in taxation administration.

Firearms Act 1997:

• The Regulations adopt the definition of “firearm” from s 3(1) of the Firearms Act 1997 for the purpose of prohibiting firearm use on pastoral land except with lessee permission or under other law (r 14(d)). This imports criminal and regulatory definitions from another regulatory regime, meaning that firearms conduct on pastoral land is regulated both by the Firearms Act and by the pastoral access rules.

Weeds Management Act 2001:

• The prohibition against cutting or otherwise damaging a living plant that is not a declared weed references the Weeds Management Act 2001 s 4 definition of declared weed (r 14(h)). This cross-reference ties pastoral land plant-protection rules to the Territory’s broader weed-control framework.

Telecommunications Act 1997 (Cth):

• Regulation 31(ba) refers to facilities as defined in s 7 of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Act 1997 when listing prescribed purposes (r 31(ba)). This is a cross-jurisdictional reference: the pastoral regulatory regime treats certain telecommunications infrastructure as a prescribed purpose under the Pastoral Land Act regime, but the definitional content is drawn from Commonwealth law.

Registrar-General and land title machinery:

• Surrenders and amended plans must be lodged with the Registrar-General after Ministerial acceptance and preparation of new plans where a lease is partly surrendered (rr 8-10). This interfaces with land title and survey processes administered by the Registrar-General.

Northern Territory Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NTCAT):

• The Board must give reasons for actions that may be reviewed by the Tribunal under the Act (r 30). This sets up a connection between the pastoral administrative decision‑making process and the NTCAT’s review jurisdiction, as conferred by amendments noted in the endnotes (for example the 2014 Act conferring Tribunal jurisdiction as referenced in the endnotes).

Common-law and court jurisdiction:

• Courts are empowered to order restoration costs and compensation for damage, and to assess damages or compensation (r 15). These powers operate alongside criminal penalty provisions and civil debt recovery mechanisms referred to elsewhere in the Regulations.

Interest rate linkage to financial markets:

• Regulation 29 ties interest on Territory debts to the Commonwealth Bank of Australia standard overdraft rate plus 1% with quarterly rests. This ties long‑run interest accrual to a banking benchmark rather than a statutory flat rate, embedding a market-linked component in debt recovery.

Administrative overlaps and regulatory sequencing:

• The Regulations create sequencing obligations where Ministerial administrative acts must precede other actions, for example acceptance of surrender by the Minister before lodging with the Registrar-General (r 8-9), and the Minister’s notice specifying royalty terms and periods of entry before licensee exercise (r 16(2) and r 22).

Taken together, these cross-references show that the pastoral regulatory regime is not self-contained. It imports definitional, rate-setting, property and review mechanisms from other Territory and Commonwealth instruments. Practitioners should read the Regulations in conjunction with the referenced provisions in the Act, the Firearms Act 1997, the Weeds Management Act 2001, the Taxation Administration Act 2007, the Telecommunications Act 1997 (Cth), land title and Registrar-General rules, and the procedural framework for review by the Northern Territory Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

The Regulations have been amended repeatedly since their original notification in 1992. The endnotes of the reprint specify dates, instruments and abbreviated amendment details. The key chronological points in the amendment history as recorded in the Regulations are as follows:

• Initial instrument:

  • Pastoral Land Regulations (SL No. 23, 1992), notified 26 June 1992, commenced 26 June 1992 (r 2, in conjunction with commencement of the Pastoral Land Act 1992).

• Early amendments:

  • Amendment of Pastoral Land Regulations (SL No. 21, 1993), notified 11 August 1993, commenced 11 August 1993.
  • Amendment of Pastoral Land Regulations (SL No. 13, 1994), notified 13 May 1994, commenced 13 May 1994.
  • Amendment of Pastoral Land Regulations (SL No. 17, 1999), notified 12 May 1999, commenced 12 May 1999.

• 2011 consolidating amendments:

  • Pastoral Land Amendment Regulations 2011 (SL No. 40, 2011), notified 31 August 2011, commenced 31 August 2011. Multiple provisions (including Part headings and many regulations) were amended by this instrument. The endnote list of amendments shows r 3, rr 4-5, rr 7-11, r 12, r 13, r 14 heading and r 14 and numerous others were amended by No. 40, 2011.

• Penalties Amendment:

  • Penalties Amendment (Miscellaneous) Act 2013 (Act No. 23, 2013), assent 12 July 2013, commenced 28 August 2013. The endnote indicates this Act amended rr 4-5, r 14, rr 17, 19 and r 28 among others (see list of amendments).

• Tribunal jurisdiction amendments:

  • Northern Territory Civil and Administrative Tribunal (Conferral of Jurisdiction Amendments) (No. 2) Act 2014 (Act No. 35, 2014), assent 13 November 2014, with specified parts commencing 1 June 2015 and some remnants applying from 1 January 2015. The endnotes record that Part 7 heading was repealed and some regulations were repealed by Act No. 35, 2014 (s 104 and s 105).

• Pastoral Land Legislation Amendment Act 2018:

  • Pastoral Land Legislation Amendment Act 2018 (Act No. 20, 2018), assent 6 September 2018, commenced 26 September 2018. This Act inserted regulation 12A (r 12A ins Act No. 20, 2018, s 34) and amended other provisions (r 12 amended).

• 2018-2019 subordinate instruments:

  • Pastoral Land Amendment Regulations 2018 (SL No. 24, 2018), notified 12 December 2018, commenced 12 December 2018.
  • Pastoral Land Amendment Regulations 2019 (SL No. 19, 2019), notified 31 July 2019, commenced 31 July 2019. Endnotes show additional amendments to specific regulations were made by these subordinate instruments.

• Statute Law Revision and 2025 amendments:

  • Statute Law Revision Act 2020 (Act No. 26, 2020), assent 19 November 2020, commenced 20 November 2020; noted as making general amendments of a formal nature to rr 1, 12A and 14 as recorded in the endnotes.
  • Agriculture Legislation Amendment Regulations 2025 (SL No. 4, 2025), notified 22 May 2025, commenced 23 May 2025 (r 2).

• General amendments noted:

  • The endnotes identify general amendments of a formal nature made by the Interpretation Legislation Amendment Act 2018 (Act No. 22, 2018) to rr 1, 12A and 14 (endnote 3).

The endnote 4 “List of amendments” maps particular regulatory amendments to instruments and years. For example:

• r 12A was inserted by Act No. 20, 2018 (s 34).
• Part and regulation headings were amended in No. 40, 2011, r 4.
• Repeals of Part 7 and rr 25-27 were effected by Act No. 35, 2014, s 104.
• Regulation 31 was inserted by No. 21, 1993, and later amended several times by 1994, 1999, 2011 and 2025 instruments (r 31 ins No. 21, 1993; amd No. 13, 1994; No. 17, 1999; No. 40, 2011, r 3; No. 4, 2025, r 33).

Practitioners should consult the full endnotes for itemised amendment entries and cross-check the current reprint for the consolidated text. The endnotes provide the formal amendment trail and identify the subordinate legislation and Acts responsible for each change. This reprint is listed as “As in force at 23 May 2025”; users should confirm whether subsequent amendments or instruments postdating that reprint affect any provision.

The Regulations themselves do not record judicial or tribunal decisions. The text of the Regulations contains no case names, reported decisions, or summaries of litigation. Where the Regulations engage with review processes they do so by reference to administrative review mechanisms rather than by citing litigation. Notably, regulation 30 requires the Board to give reasons in its report or notice where the Board takes an action or makes a decision that adversely affects a lessee and may be reviewed by the Tribunal under the Act (r 30). That cross-reference recognises the availability of review by the Northern Territory Civil and Administrative Tribunal under the Act, but the Regulations do not summarise or record Tribunal decisions.

What the Regulations disclose about review and adjudication processes:

• Administrative decisions that “may be reviewed by the Tribunal under the Act” trigger a mandatory reasons requirement (r 30). This procedural obligation is framed to facilitate external review, because reasons are necessary for effective administrative review or appeal.
• Courts are given jurisdiction to order restoration costs and compensation where offences against the Regulations occur, and to assess amounts of damages or compensation (r 15(1)-(2)). The Regulations thus create enforcement avenues that could lead to litigation but do not state outcomes or precedent.

Absent case law in the instrument:

• Because the Regulations do not list litigation nor cite cases, they provide no direct doctrinal guidance on the interpretation of particular provisions, on the application of specific penalties, or on how courts and the Tribunal have applied the Regulations in fact. Users seeking litigation history or interpretative authorities must therefore consult external databases of Territory and Federal courts and Tribunal decisions for rulings applying the Pastoral Land Act and these Regulations.

Practical consequence for practitioners:

• The Regulations’ reference to Tribunal review and court powers indicates that administrative and judicial review pathways exist and are contemplated by the regulatory architecture. However, the Regulations do not themselves supply evidentiary or precedential material. Lawyers, compliance officers and researchers should locate relevant Tribunal and court decisions to understand how the rules have been interpreted and enforced in practice.

In short, the Regulations provide the administrative framework and expressly link to review under the Act and to court powers, but they do not contain a litigation history or case law within the text.

This section highlights particular provisions and interactions that commonly produce unexpected compliance or operational consequences for lessees, licensees, the Minister and third parties, grounded in the text of the Regulations.

1. Minister’s power to insure and recover costs with interest:

   • Where a lessee is required to insure improvements because the land was purchased by instalment, the lessee must supply a copy of the policy and premium receipts within one month of issue or due date (r 7(3)-(4)). If the lessee fails to insure, the Minister may do so and recover moneys expended as a debt with interest from the date of expenditure at the rate in regulation 29 (r 7(5)-(6), r 29). The combined effect is immediate financial exposure: the lessee’s failure to meet administrative deadlines can trigger Ministerial expenditure recoverable with market-linked interest (r 29), rather than only an administrative penalty.

2. Buyer of destocked stock obtains good title, but lessee paid last:

   • Purchasers of stock disposed of under s 42 get good title free of encumbrance (r 11(1)). But sale proceeds are applied first to sale expenses and then to the Minister’s destocking expenses and any registered mortgage before any remainder goes to the lessee (r 11(2)). A lessee with a mortgage over stock may therefore find mortgage security effectively extinguished at sale, but proceeds will be applied to pay registered mortgage only after Ministerial expenses.

3. Board communications and proceedings carry high penalties:

   • Communications intended to influence Board members are prohibited before and after meetings (r 4) with a maximum penalty of 40 penalty units. Interruptions to Board proceedings attract 15 penalty units (r 5). These are significant procedural offences that apply to applicants and others entitled to appear; informal lobbying or persistent contact could expose participants to enforcement risk.

4. Licence entry limited by Minister notice and by reasonable lessee requests:

   • Licensees must not enter except during periods specified in the Minister’s notice (r 17(1)). Before entry, licensees must give reasonable notice and comply with reasonable requests by the lessee to establish identity and avoid interference with pastoral operations (r 17(2)). This creates a dual gating mechanism: Ministerial limits on timing and lessee requests about implementation on the ground. Failure to comply is a penalised offence (r 17(2)).

5. Royalties set by notice, licensee can refuse and obtain refund:

   • The Minister may determine royalties and specify them in the Minister’s notice (r 22). Where a royalty is fixed, the licensee may advise the Minister in writing that the licensee will not exercise the licence and may return the Minister’s notice to obtain a refund of the application fee (r 23). Licence applicants therefore bear the risk that royalties will be fixed unfavourably; the statutorily provided escape hatch is limited to a refund of the application fee, not compensation for lost opportunity.

6. Records and feral animal control:

   • Lessees must keep continuous records of stock levels and measures taken to control feral animals as directed by the Board (r 28). The duty is per separate pastoral lease, so a lessee with multiple leases must record separately. The penalty for non‑compliance is 15 penalty units. The requirement is not prospectively qualified; it is continuous.

7. Interest calculation nuances:

   • There are two separate interest regimes. For late payment under s 57, the rate is the statutory interest rate under the Taxation Administration Act 2007 (r 12A). For other debts to the Territory (other than under s 59 of the Act), interest accrues at 1% above the Commonwealth Bank of Australia standard overdraft rate with quarterly rests (r 29). Practitioners should ensure correct identification of the relevant debt category as different reference points produce different interest outcomes.

8. Monitoring site wording and physical marking:

   • Monitoring sites must be marked by durable marker protruding above the surface with a tag bearing the words “Monitoring Site marker .... Removal is an offence”, or to that effect (r 13). Tag wording is prescribed in substance; removal of markers is an offence. The procedural detail means operators cannot rely on ad hoc marking.

9. Cross-referenced definitions and jurisdictional consequences:

   • The Regulations import definitions (for example, “firearm” from the Firearms Act 1997 and “declared weed” from the Weeds Management Act 2001) and facility definitions from Commonwealth legislation for prescribed purposes (r 14(d), r 14(h), r 31(ba)). This creates cross-jurisdictional compliance complexity: compliance may require understanding Commonwealth and other Territory statutes.

10. Minister’s absolute discretion to revoke with variable refund:

    • The Minister’s absolute discretion to revoke a licence notice outside the enumerated failure grounds (r 24(2)) allows refunds of such percentage of the fee as the Minister thinks appropriate. The Regulations do not constrain that discretion with objective criteria. Applicants should expect administrative uncertainty concerning discretionary revocation and refund quantum.

11. Absence of monetary penalty unit conversion:

    • The Regulations specify penalties in penalty units but do not set the dollar value. The monetary exposure therefore depends on the value of a penalty unit under Territory law at the time of enforcement. Practitioners must check the current penalty unit value to quantify risk.

These “gotchas” arise from how the Regulations convert administrative discretion and statutory powers into documentary, timing and financial consequences, and from cross-references to other laws that can attach additional obligations and criminal definitions to conduct on pastoral land.

This section translates the Regulations into concrete compliance steps for lessees, licensees, applicants and administrators. Each item cites the relevant regulation(s) and sketches practical actions.

For pastoral lessees

• Insurance for improvements (r 7):

  • If the lease was acquired by instalment payments and the lessee is required to insure, arrange insurance from the lease commencement date, insure for full insurable value against fire, storm, flood and other specified events, and ensure the policy names the lessee and the Territory as joint insureds (r 7(1)-(2)).
  • Forward a copy of the insurance policy to the Minister within one month of issue, and forward receipts for premiums to the Minister within one month after they become due (r 7(3)-(4)).
  • Maintain proof of timely transmission (email delivery receipts or registered post records) to avoid the Minister taking protective steps that will be recoverable as a debt (r 7(5)-(6)).

• Record-keeping (r 28):

  • Keep a continuous, contemporaneous record for each separate pastoral lease of stock levels on the land and animals turned off the land, and of measures taken to control feral animals pursuant to Board directions. Keep records in a retrievable format, with dates, stock counts and descriptions of control measures and any Board directions referenced by date.

• Dealing with entry by licensees (rr 17-19):

  • Expect licensees to give reasonable notice before entry. Establish a standard process for verifying identity and handling requests to avoid unnecessary interference with pastoral operations, and document all reasonable requests and responses. Maintain copies of the licensee’s Ministerial notice if requested (r 19).

• Responding to Board processes (rr 3-5, 30):

  • Where you are an applicant or a person entitled to appear before the Board, monitor notices of meetings for the 14 day default period under r 3. Keep records of any agreement to reduce notice periods. Avoid attempting to influence Board members before or after meetings (r 4), and maintain decorum during hearings (r 5). If the Board issues an adverse decision that may be reviewed by the Tribunal, expect the Board to provide reasons (r 30) and retain copies for any review.

• Surrender procedures (rr 8-10):

  • If surrendering a lease or part, use the form approved by the Minister and forward it to the Minister for acceptance (r 8). On acceptance, expect the Minister to lodge the instrument with the Registrar-General and to cause a new plan to be prepared when only part of a lease is surrendered (rr 9-10). Coordinate with surveyors and the Registrar-General as necessary.

For licence applicants and licensees under s 84 (rr 16-24)

• Application content and fee (r 16(1)):

  • Prepare a written application including full name, address, occupation, a clear description of the area (portion number/pastoral lease number/title as required in other provisions such as r 12), the purpose for licensing, and submit the prescribed fee. Retain proof of lodgement and fee payment.

• Notice and periods of entry (r 16(2), r 17(1)):

  • Expect the Minister’s notice to specify the licence period and permitted entry times. Do not enter outside those periods. Coordinate scheduling and entry logistics to stay within the Minister’s specified times.

• Liaison with the lessee (r 17(2)):

  • Give reasonable notice to the lessee before each entry and be prepared to comply with reasonable identity verification and requests designed to avoid interference with pastoral operations. Document notices given to the lessee and any compliance measures.

• Employer certificates for labour (r 20):

  • If you intend to employ persons to exercise licence rights, obtain and issue certificates in the Minister’s approved form, and ensure employees carry certificates when on the land. Ensure certificates remain valid only while the Minister’s notice remains in force.

• Returns and royalty payments (rr 21-23):

  • Be prepared to provide returns in the form and at the times required by the Minister, accurately indicating the amount of material taken. If a royalty is fixed in the Minister’s notice, decide promptly whether to accept and pay, or to inform the Minister in writing that you will not exercise the licence and return the Minister’s notice to obtain a refund of your fee (r 23). Account for royalty payments in cost structures, and retain receipts and records of payment.

• Manage revocation risk (r 24):

  • Comply strictly with licence conditions and payment obligations to avoid revocation under r 24(1). Recognise that the Minister has absolute discretion to revoke under r 24(2) and that refunds in discretionary revocation are at the Minister’s judgement.

For the Minister and administrators

• Ensure timely processing of licence applications and clearly specify periods of permitted entry, royalty rates, and payment times in the Minister’s notice (rr 16-22).
• If the Minister steps in to insure improvements, document expenditure, apply the interest rate in r 29 when seeking recovery, and effect recovery promptly as a debt under r 7(6).

For purchasers of stock disposed by the Minister (r 11)

• Purchasers receive good title free of encumbrance, but should obtain documentation of sale and ensure they understand the effect of sale proceeds priorities. Purchasers should not rely on lessee consent or encumbrances as a continuing title risk under r 11(1) but should confirm that the sale is being conducted under the statutory destocking process.

Practical documentation and audit steps

• Maintain an indexed file (physical or electronic) with:
  • Insurance policies and premium receipts, with dates of transmission to the Minister (r 7).
  • Board notices, meeting dates, and records of any communications consistent with r 3-5 and r 30.
  • Licence applications, Ministerial notices, royalty payment records, returns filed under r 21, and any correspondence under r 23 or r 24.
  • Continuous stock level records and feral animal control actions per lease (r 28).

Interest and debt management

• Track interest accruals using the prescribed reference points: the statutory interest rate under the Taxation Administration Act 2007 for late payments under s 57 (r 12A) and 1% above the Commonwealth Bank standard overdraft rate with quarterly rests for other debts to the Territory (r 29). Ensure accounting systems can apply these distinct methodologies.

Cross-law compliance

• Confirm compliance with the Firearms Act 1997 and Weeds Management Act 2001 when undertaking activities that may touch on those regimes (r 14(d), r 14(h)). Where prescribing or authorising telecommunications or other Commonwealthly defined facilities under r 31(ba), ensure coordination with Commonwealth regulatory obligations.

Audit and continual improvement

• Conduct periodic compliance audits focusing on insurance documentation, record-keeping of stock and feral control, licence and royalty records, and Board interaction practices. Address gaps promptly to avoid Ministerial intervention, debt recovery or penalties.

These steps translate the Regulations’ documentary, timing and financial obligations into practical actions that reduce exposure to penalties, debt recovery and administrative revocation.

(Second, detailed record and cross-references)

The Regulations’ amendment history is itemised in the reprint endnotes and identifies statutory and subordinate instruments that have altered the Regulations since the 1992 original. This second listing provides a concise map, with focus on the most legally consequential amendments as recorded in the endnotes.

Core timeline and instruments:

• 1992: Pastoral Land Regulations (SL No. 23, 1992), notified and commenced 26 June 1992.
• 1993: Amendment (SL No.