Many of the largest protected areas on private land are operated by charities, which are already exempt from land tax.(ABC Rural: Maddelin McCosker)
People operating nature refuges that play a pivotal role in the Queensland government's conservation goals say having to pay land tax is "dumb", and a disincentive to others wanting to protect habitats on their property.
Nature refuges, also known as conservation covenants, are deals struck between the state government and landholders to protect their land in perpetuity.
There are 592 such refuges around Queensland, protecting 4,930,731 hectares of important habitat.
State land tax is applied to the accumulative property owned by an individual worth $600,000 or more, unless it is your home or subject to an exemption.
Charities and primary producers, who run a great deal of the state's refuges, already receive a land tax exemption, but Queensland is the last state charging private landholders with refuges.
The Herbertvale nature refuge, operated by a grazier, covers close to 30,000 hectares of land about 260 kilometres north-west of Mount Isa.(Supplied: Queensland Government)
Premier David Crisafulli last monthflagged an ambition to rapidly expand protected areas in the state, with a focus on nature refuges.
About 8.6 per cent of state has been protected, making the government about 14 million hectares short of its goal to protect 17 per cent of the state's land.
A statement from the the Department of Environment, Science and Tourism said nature refuges "play a critical role in conserving biodiversity, safeguarding habitats, and enhancing ecological connectivity across landscapes".
The federal government has set its own goal of preserving 30 per cent of the country by 2030.
Andrew Taylor operates a nature refuge west of Brisbane, adjacent to the D'Aguilar National Park, with his partner Gabby.
He said it was a "pristine" block that had never been farmed or cleared, which created a corridor between two parts of the national park.
In order to prove the block's worthiness, Mr Taylor said he had to engage a third-party consultant at the cost of about $13,000 to assess the values of the property.
"They identified that it was habitat for the black-breasted button quail, for scrub turpentine, and a few other species which are listed as vulnerable or endangered."
Andrew Taylor believes people who operate nature refuges should not have to pay land tax.(Supplied)
Mr Taylor said they paid around $3,500 in land tax every year — a price he believes will "inevitably rise".
The total cost of converting land to a nature refuge and the ongoing management can be a "disincentive" to people considering the taking the step, he added.
While some councils offer support and rate relief for nature refuges, Somerset Regional Council, where Mr Taylor's property is located, does not.
Mr Taylor said he had received a state grant of $25,000 in 2023 to help eliminate the invasive weed cat's claw, which paid for three workers for a week on the property.
"I think people weigh up the financial pros and cons of converting a property and one of those financial disincentives is having to aggregate that land for the purposes of determining the threshold for land tax," he said.
Andrew Taylor received a grant to remove the invasive weed cat's claw from a section of the property.(Supplied)
The ABC understands the Queensland government is considering a submission from the Australian Land Conservation Alliance (ALCA) for the exemption to be expanded to private land holders.
ALCA policy lead Michael Cornish said because of existing exemptions, the change would come at a "low and reasonable cost" to the government.
"We're not talking about millions of dollars here," he said.
"For governments who might try to fund the entirety of their conservationist project themselves, it's a much cheaper lever to pull."
In research published earlier this year, Griffith University conservation planning expert Dr Michelle Ward found half of the habitat of 220 "highly imperilled" species fell outside of currently protected areas.
Dr Michelle Ward setting a wildlife detection camera following bushfires in 2019-2020.(Supplied)
Dr Ward was encouraged by the Queensland government's focus on nature refuges, and said a land tax exemption would be a "great first step and incentive" to encourage landholders.
"These landholders need to be adequately paid for taking land out of production and maintaining it as natural vegetation as well as managing the land," she said.
"Conservation actions are not cheap … it's not just a single point in time that it needs to happen, it needs to happen over many years."
There are calls for the state government to set a concrete timeline for its target of preserving 17 per cent of its landmass, with just 595,000 hectares protected since 2022.
In 2024, Victoria became the most recent state to introduce a similar exemption to what is being called for in Queensland.
The change caused a surge of interest in nature refuges, according to Trust for Nature, an organisation that helps landholders through the process of converting their land.
"In the past year we've had a record number of 53 covenants registered and 168 are currently in progress," Trust for Nature Victoria chief executive Corinne Proske said.
Trust for Nature Victoria CEO Corinne Proske says Victoria cutting the tax led to widespread interest in nature refuges.(Supplied)
Much of this interest has come in areas around Melbourne with high land tax, such as the Mornington Peninsula, Ms Proske said.
She said areas with high developmental value were often those that needed the most protection.
Queensland property owners tend to pay far less in land tax than in Victoria, but Mr Cornish from ALCA said an exemption for nature refuges would be a good opportunity for the government to "put their money where their mouth is".
On the Sunshine Coast, Deon Venter and his wife Jane have converted 32 hectares of a 35 hectare block to a nature refuge.
Many of the blocks around it have been developed, and the property provides part of a nature corridor directly into Tewantin National Park.
"The amount of diversity is stunning, at both the botanical and animal level. Every time you walk through it you notice something new," Mr Venter said.
Re-rehabilitated bandicoots on Deon Venter's Sunshine Coast property.(Supplied)
They receive support from the council for weeding, and spend several thousand dollars of their own money annually on upkeep.
Last year the couple had to pay $11,000 in land tax, despite the covenant meaning they legally cannot develop the site.
"We believe we should get an exemption on the tax for a substantial part of the property since it is not an economic asset in any way, it is actually an economic drain," Mr Venter said.
Wal and Heather Mayr have spent more than 40 years rehabilitating a former banana plantation.(ABC Gold Coast: Tom Forbes)
Wal Mayr, who runs a 25 hectare nature refuge in the Gold Coast hinterland with his wife Heather, said they were lucky to receive support from the council and state grants, outweighing the few thousand they pay in land tax.
But it still rubbed him the wrong way.