A sprawling pastoral estate in the Northern Territory has made history as the first property to refer their land clearing plans for assessment following the passing of Australia's reformed national environment laws.

The owners of Claravale Farm and Station, Top End Pastoral Company, have become only the second pastoral station in the Northern Territory to seek such assessment, and the first after the passing of Australia’s reformed nature laws. 

The referral follows almost five years of sustained campaigning, investigations,and advocacy by Environment Centre NT with legal representation from their lawyers, Environmental Justice Australia, to protect critical habitat on the banks of the Daly River. 

Federal Environment Minister Murray Watt will now consider the impact of plans to clear 4,585 hectares of vegetation for crops including sorghum and cotton. 

The Minister will consider the impacts of the proposed deforestation on habitat for threatened fauna including northern quolls, pig-nosed turtles, partridge pigeons, water monitors, Gouldian finches, freshwater sawfish and red goshawks. 

Claravale is home to one of only six maternity roosts for ghost bats in the entire Northern Territory, where the tiny bats raise their pups in limestone caves surrounded by sweeping orange plains and savanna woodland. 

Surveys conducted by an ecologist at Claravale Station  found “there is a high likelihood that the proposed clearing will impact on the foraging habitat of the ghost bats residing in the caves north of the proposed clearing” but “the extent of this impact is unclear without conducting further surveys.” 

NT land clearing crisis continues 

New analysis by Environment Centre NT shows the Finocchiaro government approved the destruction of almost 35,000 hectares of native vegetation in 2025 – equivalent to more than 17,000 MCG playing fields. 

This destruction is occurring on pastoral estates, which make up 45% of the Northern Territory’s land mass. The NT government’s Pastoral Land Board oversees the approval of land clearing requests but is motivated by pastoral and farming interests, rather than the best interests of the environment. 

More than 274,400 hectares of native vegetation was approved for bulldozing in the Territory between 2003 and 2025. 

Referral follows legal action

After Environment Centre NT released satellite images showing native vegetation had allegedly been bulldozed at Claravale Farm without permits, the NT government launched legal action against Top End Pastoral Company. 

Environment Minister Joshua Burgoyne settled the dispute outside of court in March 2025, ending what would have been the Territory's first land-clearing prosecution.

Claravale is a place of great cultural and spiritual significance to the Wagiman people, who have been caring for this land for millennia and continue to do so.

Submissions on the current federal referral close on 23 December 2025. 

Environment Centre NT Executive Director, Dr Kirsty Howey said: 

“This is the first deforestation test for the Minister following the passage of new nature laws."

“We congratulate Top End Pastoral Company for doing the right thing and referring their deforestation plans for full assessment under the new nature laws.  

"The level of destruction unleashed on the world's last intact tropical savanna over the last year is simply frightening. 

"It's horrifying that more than 30,000 hectares of vegetation can be approved for bulldozing in the Territory in a single year without even being considered by Australia's Federal Environment Minister." 

“We're worried our new federal nature laws won't stop mass clearing of the Territory's savanna and wildlife unless they're properly enforced.”

Environmental Justice Australia’s Senior Specialist Lawyer Ellen Maybery said:

“This is a significant and very welcome step - one of the Northern Territory’s largest proposed clearings is finally being brought under national environment law. 

“Claravale will be a critical test case for what the EPBC Act requires in terms of assessment of industrial-scale land clearing and protection of threatened species and critical habitat.

“The Minister must now apply the law carefully and transparently to decide if, and how, this clearing is assessed under federal laws.

“Strengthening federal oversight in cases like Claravale is essential to ending the cycle of unlawful clearing, weak enforcement and escalating risk to the Territory’s most vulnerable ecosystems.”

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