The South Australian Nationals will use every legislative avenue available to protect South Australia’s prime agricultural land and aquifers. Our elected Members of Parliament will vote to establish a strong, statewide farmland preservation scheme that places food and water security above all other competing land uses. This commitment aligns with parallel legislation being introduced by The Nationals in the Federal Parliament today and mirrors successful frameworks already operating in Queensland and New South Wales.

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Policy Objectives

• To safeguard prime agricultural land and groundwater resources for current and future generations.

• To ensure South Australia’s capacity to produce food and maintain water security in an increasingly unstable global environment characterised by population growth, shrinking arable land, water scarcity and disrupted supply chains.

• To prevent irreversible loss of the state’s most productive soils and aquifers through inappropriate mining, housing or energy developments.

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Definition and Mapping of Prime Agricultural Land

Prime agricultural land will be identified using existing South Australian mapping data as the primary reference, supplemented where necessary by criteria modelled on Queensland’s Strategic Cropping Land framework. These criteria include soil water-holding capacity, slope/gradient, absence of rocky outcrops and other productivity factors.

Protections will be extended statewide, building on the proven model of the Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale Character Preservation legislation. Areas supported by existing or proximate irrigation infrastructure (including the Riverland) will also qualify for protection, recognising that irrigation sustains prime agricultural productivity in lower-rainfall zones.

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Legislative and Regulatory Commitments

If elected, SA Nationals MPs will:

• Vote against any mining, housing or energy project proposed on mapped prime agricultural land unless it complies with the new preservation laws.

• Apply a default assessment test to all developments (housing, mining or energy generation) that gives absolute priority to the protection of prime agricultural land and aquifers over other land-use demands.

• Refuse state government funding or support for any project that would diminish the state’s stock of prime agricultural land or adversely impact aquifers.

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Prime Agricultural Offsets

Any unavoidable loss of prime agricultural land will be strictly offset through a “Prime Ag Offsets” mechanism. The proponent must demonstrate that equivalent or greater productive capacity will be created on nearby land brought up to prime agricultural standard, ensuring no net reduction in the state’s food-producing resource base.

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Aquifer and Groundwater Protection

Aquifers do not respect property boundaries. All development proposals will be subject to rigorous assessment to prevent adverse impacts on groundwater quantity or quality. Water security will be treated as non-negotiable in planning decisions.

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Farmer Rights Preserved

Nothing in this policy prevents individual farmers from undertaking privately funded projects on their own land. The measures are directed solely at external developments that threaten the broader public interest in food and water security.

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Supporting Productive Land Use

The SA Nationals recognise that prime agricultural land is not a naturally occurring resource alone — it is created and maintained through generations of careful stewardship. Policies that devalue or remove land from active production (such as water buybacks that lead to irrigation districts falling into disuse) will be reversed where possible to restore productive capacity.

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This policy delivers a clear, enforceable framework to future-proof South Australia’s food production and water security. It sends a strong message: prime agricultural land and the aquifers that sustain it are too valuable to be sacrificed. The SA Nationals will protect them at any cost.

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For more information, contact:

Jonathan Pietzsch, SA Nationals – 0429 010 047

Rikki Lambert, Legislative Council Candidate – 0439 844 710

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