The Delbessie Agreement (also known as the State Rural Leasehold Land Strategy) is a framework of legislation, policies and guidelines developed to support the environmentally sustainable productive use of rural leasehold land for agribusiness.

Signed by the Queensland Government, AgForce Queensland, and the Australian Rainforest Conservation Society at Delbessie, a property near Hughenden, in December 2007, the Agreement takes into account the aspirations of leaseholders, conservation and Indigenous groups, and rural industry.

Guidelines for assessing rural leasehold land condition have been developed by the Department of Natural Resources and Water, in collaboration with key stakeholders.

• Delbessie Agreement (PDF, 466 kB)*
• Fact sheet—Delbessie Agreement (PDF, 721 kB)*
• Delbessie Agreement—Guidelines for determining lease land condition (PDF, 412kB)* 

What is ‘rural leasehold land’

Rural leasehold land is State land that is leased for agricultural, grazing or pastoral purposes, but excludes leases over land within a reserve, State forest, timber reserve, and any of the following granted under the Nature Conservation Act 1992:

• national park
• conservation park
• resources reserve
• forest reserve.

The Delbessie Agreement clarifies leaseholders’ duty of care and applies to all rural leasehold land. However, the Agreement focuses primarily on the sustainable management of rural leases having terms of 20 years or more and covering not less than 100 hectares.

What the Agreement will achieve

The Delbessie Agreement will assist land managers to balance the profitable use of land by maintaining healthy land condition, and adapting farming practices to address emerging challenges such as climate change. It provides a practical basis from which government can work with all stakeholders to assure the ongoing economic viability of rural communities while addressing any potential for decline in land condition.

The framework uses a mixture of incentives and statutory remedies to introduce benefits to all stakeholders by:

• providing security of tenure through longer lease terms
• clarifying duty of care where this has previously not been defined
• assessing the condition of lease land using leading edge land condition assessments
• developing land management agreements to guide future management planning
• promoting voluntary conservation agreements and Indigenous access and use 
• clarifying what will happen if land is identified as having significant environmental values that should be conserved within the protected area estate (e.g. future national parks).