Property

The Settlement embodies the principles of the Aboriginal Empowerment Strategy, and the strong partnerships required to achieve the aspirations of the Noongar people. It is made up of six Indigenous Land Use Agreements (ILUAs), covering around 200,000 square kilometres of the South-West region. The second of 12 annual State payments of $60 million - plus indexation - was made in April 2022 to the Noongar Boodja Trust (Trust) under the Settlement, taking the total paid to date to $123 million.

A publican involved in the record-breaking acquisition of the Thomas Blamey Hotel in Wagga Wagga has purchased of the Tourist Hotel in Queanbeyan – the town’s first pub sale in a decade ... Blake Edwards and Dan Dragicevich of HTL Property, who managed the off-market sale, said the buyer is an “undisclosed purchaser is a Maitland-based publican, who has recently purchased the Manning River Hotel in Taree and Thomas Blamey Tavern in Wagga Wagga though HTL”.

An entire town in Victoria’s Gippsland region complete with the local pub is up for sale, with 21 lots across 4.45-hectares in Coopers Creek coming to market. A former mining town, Coopers Creek, sits on the Thomson River in Gippsland, around 130km out from the Melbourne CBD, and at one point had a population of about 250 people.

The Queensland government is moving to sell the former Queensland Agriculture Training Colleges (QATC) property at Longreach, which has trained agricultural leaders for more than 50 years. Minister for Agricultural Industry Development and Fisheries and Minister for Rural Communities Mark Furner said the 17, 511ha site would go to market later this year.

ASX-listed local and international supplier of medicinal cannabis ECS Botanics is offloading its production enterprise in Tasmania’s Northern Midlands ... ECS cultivates and manufactures medicinal cannabis products in both Tasmania and Victoria, and supplies domestic and overseas markets. Last year, it secured a five-year, $4.5 million deal to supply Polish company Alivio Spolka with GMP-manufactured medicinal cannabis, and a one year rolling supply agreement with local company Canngea, after it took over Murray Meds early in the year as part of a $1 million deal.

The world’s largest macadamia producers, the Zadro family, have tipped their Gemfields aggregation in Queensland’s Central Highlands to the market, with expectations of $70 million as institutional investors grow their focus on horticulture ventures. At the same time, the Elliot River horticulture portfolio in the Coastal Burnett region has been listed for sale with a circa $30 million price tag, making for $100 million worth of sunshine state horticultural assets available.

The federal government will add $455 million to its coffers after Treasurer Jim Chalmers moved swiftly to double foreign investment application fees. Labor’s election promise will become reality from this Friday. Foreign purchasers buying a residential property worth $1 million will be slugged an application fee of $13,200, up from $6,600. The same will apply to foreign buyers acquiring agricultural assets worth $2 million, and commercial assets worth $50 million ... “Australia welcomes foreign investment that is in Australia’s interests,” Chalmers said.

With Australian biodiversity under significant threat, the National Farmers’ Federation (NFF) is urging the federal government to look to investment and collaboration with farmers. The call from the NFF comes after the recent release of the State of the Environment Report which revealed biodiversity across the country is experiencing a massive decline and currently remains under threat of further deterioration.

Cape York Traditional Owners have reconnected with their land, culture and history as part of four historic determinations which saw nearly 1.5 million hectares of land recognised under native title ... “Knowing that elders can go back on country, knowing that it’s theirs and they will be able to live and work on the country. There is a lot of closure in that”: Joanne Nelson ... Native title is recognised over more than 536,000 square kilometres of land in Queensland, with about 305,000 square kilometres currently subject to native title claims.

Chris Oldfield. Of the 132 Naracoorte Lucindale Council rate notices with 20 per cent increases, or higher, 78 per cent are residential or commercial property owners. Residential and commercial ratepayers also represent 80 per cent of the 93 assessments with rate increases of 10 to 20 per cent rate. Of the 2348 assessments with 5 and 10 per cent rate hikes, 97 per cent are rural landowners – mostly farmers.