Operations and performance

Key programs and initiatives

The following operations were delivered by Local Land Services during the 2024–2025 reporting period to build landholder capacity, protect NSW’s unique landscapes and biodiversity, serve communities through collaboration and support, and help them adapt to change.

Natural Resource Management

Natural Capital

Local Land Services drove efforts to broaden sustainability within agriculture in New South Wales and improve farm resilience through the NSW Government’s $2.5 million Natural Capital program, which was announced in June 2024. Natural Capital Advisors were appointed in each of the 11 Local Land Services regions to provide tailored support to farmers and land managers, helping them to understand this emerging market and identify opportunities to invest in and benefit from natural capital.

During the reporting period, Local Land Services held 99 natural capital awareness-raising events with over 1,814 participants, with 77% of those stating they had an increased understanding of natural capital after the event. Advisors also completed 355 one-on-one technical consultations with farmers and land managers.

In March 2025, Local Land Services launched a statewide pilot of its natural capital profiling service, offering farmers a personalised profile of their farm’s natural assets, management options and possible financial and market opportunities to improve resilience and sustainability.

Landcare

Local Land Services is supporting the NSW Government to deliver the $59 million NSW Landcare Enabling Program 2023–2027, which was announced by the Minister for Agriculture on 11 October 2023.

As of June 30 2025, the program had allocated $35 million over 4 years to 16 NSW Landcare entities and networks to support 83 full time equivalent local and regional Landcare coordinators and support staff.

More than 390 case studies and over 18,000 activity records have been received over the life of the program, demonstrating the range and diversity of Landcare activity across the state.

In the 2024–2025 reporting period, a further allocation of $8.3 million was provided to support a Community of Practice program, Shared Services Hub, Digital Landcare Platform and an Aboriginal Partnerships Manager. An Aboriginal Partnerships grant program and Innovations and Partnerships grant program are also in the pipeline.

Local Land Services undertook a range of actions to review and improve the program including an internal Program Health Check, and an external Adaptive Review in partnership with funded Landcare organisations. This will feed into the program’s mid-term evaluation being undertaken by the NSW Natural Resources Commission.

Riverbank Rehabilitation Project

The Riverbank Rehabilitation Project (RRP) is an initiative of the NSW and Australian Governments to rehabilitate flood-damaged riverbanks across 11 NSW catchments following the significant flooding events of 2021 and 2022, which caused extensive damage to riverbanks and waterways across the North Coast, Hunter and Greater Sydney regions.

The project delivered targeted riverbank rehabilitation works, First Nations-led waterway planning and capacity building, land manager erosion and approvals support services, and riverbank management extension services. A ‘Barriers Report’ and ‘Sludge audit’ were also conducted to identify barriers and opportunities to streamline the waterway approvals process for landholders.

The project resulted in:

• improved riverbank condition at targeted Riverbank Rehabilitation works sites
• better landholder and community understanding of how to prevent and rehabilitate damage from low to medium-flow erosion events, building flood resilience
• more landholders taking measures to prevent and rehabilitate riverbank damage from low to medium-flow erosion events
• landholders being supported through the existing waterway approvals process.

Long term, the project aims to ensure sites of environmental, cultural and agricultural value are enhanced to be more resilient to further flood events, approvals processes are improved for landholders, and land managers are more willing to seek approvals and undertake compliant riverbank rehabilitation works.

Invasive Animals and Biosecurity

Emergency animal disease surveillance

In 2024–2025, Local Land Services’ statewide network of district veterinarians and biosecurity officers continued to deliver critical animal health and welfare services to protect NSW’s livestock industries and maintain market access. This work supports early detection and rapid response to emergency animal diseases (EADs), while also helping producers improve livestock health, welfare, and productivity.

District veterinarians also participated in international training programs, such as the European Commission for the Control of Foot and Mouth Disease (EuFMD) course in Kenya, gaining firsthand experience in identifying and managing foot and mouth disease in endemic regions. These opportunities enhance NSW’s preparedness and ensure teams are equipped to respond effectively in the field.

In 2024-2025, Local Land Services teams delivered:

• 2,380 on-farm animal disease and post-mortem investigations to exclude EADs or residue issues
• 8,800 animal health and welfare consultations to support producers in improving livestock health and productivity
• events and information sessions to 8,300 participants
• 130 communication products produced, including fact sheets and newsletters.

Feral Pig and Pest Program

The $13.1 million Feral Pig and Pest Program 2024–2025 supported landholders in reducing pest animal populations and their damaging impacts on farming and the environment.

The program built on the success of the previous year, continued the collaboration with landholders to support them to control feral pigs and pest animals and reduce their impact on agricultural and environmental assets, and built landholder and staff capability for effective feral pig and pest animal management.

Key activities of the Feral Pig and Pest Program included:

• supporting best-practice pest animal management by helping landholders take coordinated action across property boundaries. This includes broadscale aerial and ground control programs targeting feral pigs, deer, and other priority species, alongside community-led efforts
• providing land managers with training, resources and incentives to implement effective control programs on their land including free 1080 feral pig bait to eligible landholders
• promoting and employing best practice management techniques and educating landholders about their General Biosecurity Duty
• maintaining a trained biosecurity workforce with the skills, experience and capacity to assist landholders to manage invasive species
• continuing the role of the NSW State Feral Pig Coordinator to lead and coordinate the program
• establishing local monitoring programs
• partnerships with First Nations communities, industry and public land managers, helping reduce disease risks to livestock, protect Country and endangered species and build landholder capability through training and awareness.

A legacy of the program is enabling the shift from individual efforts to collaborative, locally led pest control, delivering more effective and enduring results:

• 9,369 landholders participated in coordinated control programs, protecting over 18 million hectares
• 106,233 pest animals removed (including 83,207 feral pigs and 15,576 deer) through 41 aerial control programs and coordinated ground-based control programs
• 196,490 kg of free 1080 baited grain issued contributing to conservative estimates of a further 196,000 feral pigs controlled
• 395,465 kg of free clean grain supplied to landholders to support trapping and baiting programs
• 38,582 one-on-one consultations with land managers on best practice pest animal management
• 106 awareness raising and training events delivered.

Regional Strategic Pest Management Plans

The Local Land Services regional pest animal management strategies recognise that pest species are a problem across the landscape and can be regionally specific.

In the 2024–2025 reporting period, Local Land Services worked with regional pest animal committees and the community to develop Regional Strategic Pest Animal Management Plans. This included consulting with landholders, local councils, regional pest committees, community groups and other government agencies to ensure they were appropriate to the local area.

These Regional Strategic Pest Animal Management Plans will:

• reduce the social, environmental and financial impact of pest animals in NSW
• improve community participation in biosecurity management
• increase numbers of well-trained and resourced landowners
• eliminate or prevent the spread of new invasive species
• reduce the impact of widespread invasive species, and ensure NSW can manage invasive species for the future.

Good Neighbours Program

The NSW Government has committed $10 million to the Good Neighbours Program (GNP) until June 2026 to support best practice pest and weed management at boundaries between public and private land.

In 2024–2025, $4.3 million was provided to 19 GNP projects to deliver best practice pest and weed management and demonstrate cross-tenure cooperation. Other Program activities included building stakeholder networks and relationships across community groups, agencies and local governments, working with inter-agency staff via workshops and events, including Feral Pig and Deer Masterclasses delivered in North West and Murray regions, promoting and improving awareness of the General Biosecurity Duty, and improving public reporting and agency data sharing on pest and weed management.

The Good Neighbours Program Boxing Glove Control project was initiated to reduce the spread of the invasive boxing glove cactus around Tibooburra in north-west NSW. Local Land Services is supporting the current work between NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service and landholders to reduce the impact on agriculture and the environment and control the spread downstream towards Caryapundy Swamp National Park.

“Success is not just the defeat of the cactus. Success is also that collaboration, that relationship between the different landholders.”

-Matthew Kennedy, Assistant Project Officer, 
Good Neighbours Program.

Primary Production

Sheep and Goat eID

In 2024–2025, the Local Land Services Sheep and Goat eID Extension project team supported industry and landholders in transitioning to electronic identification (eID) by delivering extension and awareness activities across the regions. This included providing advice on regulatory changes, compliance, the benefits of eID traceability for farm productivity, the National Livestock Identification Scheme (NLIS) navigation for new landholders, and support for stakeholders facing implementation challenges.

Local Land Services conducted 9,876 direct interactions with stakeholders across all target groups, including:

• 4,477 interactions with sheep producers
• 427 interactions with goat producers
• 942 interactions with producers who run both sheep and goats
• 1,377 interactions with stock and station agents
• 686 interactions with eID merchandisers
• 110 interactions with saleyard managers/staff.

In 2024-2025, the Sheep and Goat eID project delivered 614 extension or educational activities across 198 towns spanning 88 LGAs, including:

• 72 workshops
• 47 information sessions
• 37 trade and information stands at field days
• 17 trade and information stands at livestock events (agricultural shows, etc)
• 128 saleyard visits to provide information and on-ground advice to producers, livestock agents, and livestock transporters in addition to Local Land Services business-as-usual saleyard compliance audits
• 190 rural merchandiser visits to equip merchandisers with relevant information as a point of contact for device purchases and landholder queries.

Regional Drought Adoption Officers

In 2024–2025 Local Land Services engaged Drought Adoption Officers across the state to assist landholders with drought planning and preparedness extension services.

The program supported landholders in the uptake of Future Drought Fund tools and drought resilience innovations at a localised, on-farm, community level.

The Drought Adoption Officers are on the ground in regional areas, providing the following services:

• One-on-one advice: offering personalised guidance on drought resilience and preparedness.
• Field days and local events: engaging with landholders at events to raise awareness about drought issues and share solutions.
• Workshops: providing workshops on drought preparedness, covering topics like confinement feeding, decision-making tools, and farm planning.
• State-wide drought preparedness activities: hosting webinars and workshops to help landholders across New South Wales build resilience.

In 2024–2025, Drought Adoption Officers delivered impactful support to landholders through 1,004 one- on-one technical consultations and 209 on-farm visits, offering tailored drought resilience advice. Their involvement in 266 awareness and capacity-building events helped extend their reach, engaging 7,292 participants across the region. These efforts have significantly strengthened local preparedness and fostered practical knowledge-sharing to support sustainable land management under drought conditions.

The Drought Adoption Officer program (DOAP) is funded by the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund through the Southern NSW Innovation Hub and Southern Queensland Northern NSW Hub and Local Land Services. $2.1 million has been contributed through the Hubs, whilst Local Land Services supported the program from 1 January 2025 to 30 June 2025 with funding of $800,000.

Early Needs Recovery Program

Completed in September 2024, the $13 million Early Needs Recovery Program was part of the $150 million Primary Industry Support Package, jointly funded by the Australian and NSW Governments under the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements.

The program assisted primary producers in flood-impacted areas of the North Coast, Hunter, Greater Sydney and South-East regions in their recovery from the 2022 NSW severe weather storms and flooding events.

The services provided under the Early Needs Recovery Program were delivered by Local Land Services in partnership with DPIRD, industry, not-for-profit organisations and local control authorities.

Key achievements:

• $3.8 million in grant funding was provided
• 3,553 primary producers were supported
• 13 key industries were involved
• 2,403 consultations occurred
• 466 awareness events were delivered to ensure producers had access to essential guidance and resources
• The Not-for-Profit Fencing Program repaired and replaced over 173 km of flood-damaged fencing with the help of 726 volunteers and $1.1 million in funding, supporting 78 flood-impacted producers.
• The Industry Grants Program allocated $1.7 million to 12 industry bodies who supported 2,808 flood impacted producers, running 231 awareness raising and capacity building events and producing 392 communication products to aid recovery.
• Development of the self-paced Beef Fundamentals training package assisted beef producers new to the industry to acquire fundamental skills for success in growing healthy cattle.
• Extensive landscape management saw 980 ha treated for weeds and 246,030 ha managed for vertebrate pests, backed by over $2 million in funding.
• 168 workshops and 1,188 landholder consultations strengthened producers' resilience for future challenges.

Emergency Management

Natural Disasters

Above-average to exceptionally high rainfall affected northern, western, and central coastal regions of NSW in 2024–2025, while January storms and record-breaking April downpours triggered several major responses from Local Land Services. This included three significant flood events, activating 188 Local Land Services staff under the Agriculture and Animal Services Functional Area (AASFA).

In March, Tropical Cyclone Alfred impacted the North Coast, prompting 93 assistance requests for fodder, veterinary support, and livestock disposal. Later that month, its remnants caused major flooding in far north- western catchments, with 33 requests for assistance— primarily for aerial fodder delivery. A severe East Coast weather event in May brought widespread flooding across the Hunter, Mid Coast, and Northern Rivers, heavily affecting dairy and oyster industries. AASFA received 1,363 requests, mostly for veterinary aid, livestock disposal, and emergency fodder.

Several minor bushfire incidents were managed by Local Land Services teams.

The number of call outs to animal transport accidents rose, with Local Land Services assisting NSW Police in 16 cases with livestock assessment, treatment, containment, and euthanasia.

Biosecurity

Local Land Services had 81 staff support the Avian influenza outbreak response in the Hawkesbury region during July-August 2024. Local Land Services also supported surveillance activity for Brown Marmorated Stink Bug, White Spot in prawns, cane toads, fall army worms and pasture dieback.

Plague Locusts

Between July 2024 and June 2025, Local Land Services received 51 reports of Australian Plague Locust activity, mostly from Central West NSW. Biosecurity Officers investigated each report, confirming locust presence and supporting 30 landholders with control chemicals from the state stockpile in Dubbo.

Recognition of Service

In recognition of past service, the Australian Honours and Awards Secretariat confirmed in November 2024 that 575 personnel would receive the National Emergency Medal for their contributions during the 2019–2020 bushfires. Among them, 226 Local Land Services staff were honoured for their sustained and significant service.

Preparedness

During the reporting period, system improvements were made to enable faster overtime payments and enhanced use of the online emergency coordination platform, WebEOC, allowing staff to update evacuation centre data across NSW for improved accuracy and visibility during responses.

Local Land Services enhanced capability through five locust field training workshops (54 staff) and two Mission Crew aviation sessions. Four new online training modules were also developed.

Other preparedness efforts included:

• implementing the MAX Case Management System with Power BI (business analytics platform that turns data into actionable insights)
• updating the Locusts in NSW –Landholder Guide
• launching the Plague Locust Operational Readiness and Alert Status Guide
• targeted communications, planned to improve early reporting and forecasting, ensuring rapid response and coordinated locust management across NSW.

Local Land Services invested in building emergency response capability with:

• over 50 staff completing field operations training
• 2 staff completing public information training
• 12 staff undertaking intelligence gathering training
• 4 staff completing tracing training
• 9 staff completing air operations training
• 10 staff undertaking emergency exercise design and evaluation
• around 250 staff participating in 25 emergency-related exercises.

Policy and Regulatory

Proposed amendments to the Land Management (Native Vegetation) Code

As committed to in the NSW Plan for Nature, proposed amendments to the Land Management Code were published for public consultation. The draft Code amendments, including a Discussion Paper, were placed on the Have Your Say engagement platform from 6 June to 1 August 2025, totalling 8-weeks of public consultation. 1,471 submissions were received within the public consultation period.

Local Land Services also met with and briefed industry stakeholders as part of the development and following publication of the NSW Plan for Nature in 2024 as well as leading up to and during the public consultation of the Code amendments. These submissions will be analysed for the Minister’s consideration prior to any amendments to the Code.

Private Native Forestry

Local Land Services issued 300 Private Native Forestry approvals for the year, covering just over 73,190 ha, noting the actual harvest area is less than this after harvest exclusion and protection areas are applied.

Other notable outcomes for the year included:

• continued development of a credible, scientifically valid evidence base that will contribute to the Natural Resources Commission 5-yearly evidence review required by the Private Native Forestry Codes of Practice
• the Natural Resources Commission completed its Private Native Forestry Monitoring Program Annual Progress Report 2024–2025 with all actions, but one, completed or in progress
• 135 participants attended a series of field days, formal training courses and presentations where topics such as tree measurement, eucalypt ecology, products and markets and legislative and code requirements were discussed
• landholders reported harvesting approximately 126,983 m3 of timber products making a valuable and sustainable contribution to the housing and infrastructure needs of NSW.

Land Management Program

Statewide consistency continues to be a focus for the delivery of the Land Management framework across the state.

Key outcomes included the development and introduction of a process to consistently review and approve large and complex applications and the use of highly trained and experienced staff members to peer review complex cases in the field.

Enquiries to the Native Vegetation Panel from landholders and local government remained strong with many queries triaged and directed to the appropriate approval authority.

Case study: Making Private Native Forestry future fit

Private Native Forestry (PNF) plays a vital role in sustainable land management and timber production across NSW. In 2024–2025, to ensure forestry extension services remained relevant and effective, Local Land Services, in partnership with the North East NSW Forestry Hub, undertook a comprehensive research project -‘Making Private Native Forestry Future Fit’. This project was part-funded through the Australian Government’s National Forest Industries Plan 2018.

The project included both qualitative interviews and a large-scale quantitative survey, with over 550 landholders participating. The survey was co-designed with the Forestry Hub and built on insights from a similar 2017 study, allowing for meaningful comparison over time.

Key findings included:

• a significant increase in landholders accessing forestry information from Local Land Services—rising from 19% in 2017 to 62% in 2025
• 60% of landholders without a PNF Plan expressed interest in learning more particularly about operational processes, forest suitability, and potential income
• only 13% currently practice silviculture*, but 50% would consider it, citing benefits such as improved forest health and reduced fire risk.

These insights will directly inform the development of new extension materials, workshops, and advisory services. By aligning support with landholder needs, Local Land Services will continue to ensure private native forests are managed sustainably -benefiting landholders, communities, and the environment.

* Silviculture is the practice of managing the growth, composition and structure of forests on a sustainable basis.

Organisational priorities

Extension Services

Local Land Services collaborates with a range of research and industry partners to deliver extension services, including the DPIRD. Following a review of its Research, Development and Extension (RD&E) activities, DPIRD is developing a new RD&E Strategy.

The Local Land Services Board has also been working with the agency to refresh and modernise how Local Land Services undertakes extension. Local Land Services and DPIRD are working together to ensure the renewed extension model aligns with the DPIRD RD&E strategy while supporting the vision and goals of the Local Land Services State Strategic Plan 2020–2030, to ensure it remains responsive to emerging challenges and opportunities. Local Land Services will also be working more broadly with partners to ensure future extension service delivery is coordinated, outcomes-focused, and well-positioned for success.

TSR Priority Reform Project

Local Land Services manages 534,000 hectares of TSR on NSW Crown Lands.

Key activities for the TSR Program for 2024–2025 included:

• a review of the 5-year Statewide Plan of Management (SPoM) 2019–2024, involving engagement of around 200 Local Land Services staff and key partners, with 23 in- depth stakeholder interviews and five targeted
• workshops to build an evidence base to inform the development of a new TSR Plan of Management in 2025–2026
• a statewide Long Term Grazing Permit (LTGP) Tender, supporting customers with more secure, long-term grazing access. 1,685 TSR were advertised for the tender with 1,108 LTGPs for up to five years, being issued covering approx.
• 78,350 ha (14%) of TSR under Local Land Services management statewide
• the development of the TSR Statewide Fire Management Plan to improve fire preparedness and risk mitigation
• the launch of the TSR User Handbook, a practical guide to help customers better understand and access TSR.

Digital Uplift: OneCX website migration

Local Land Services is currently working through a staged uplift and migration of website content, to create a better digital experience for customers and stakeholders

The 2024–2025 period saw:

• the establishment of an overall content architecture for primary industries that positions Local Land Services at the forefront of NSW Government services and advice to land managers
• the consolidation and update of over 1,500 pages and PDFs to ensure customers can find the most up-to-date information on the outcomes of Local Land Services projects and on-ground extension activities
• the creation of over 380 new advice pages that are easier to navigate with a focus on plain English, customer-first language
• the development of new customer-friendly online forms that ensure safe handling of customer data
• the integration of a Customer Payment Portal into online forms, and
• the integration of a new events platform into the website to promote Local Land Services events across NSW.

Grants Administration Framework

Grants are one of the tools that Local Land Services uses to support the delivery of impactful programs for landholders across NSW. In 2024–2025, Local Land Services developed a new Grants Administration Framework, focusing on:

1. Governance and Assurance: Establishing clear decision-making, accountability, and role segregation. It outlines two governance structures—program delivery and life cycle governance—to ensure robust oversight.
2. Grants Administration Toolkit: Provides step- by-step guidance across the seven stages of the grant lifecycle, aligned with NSW Government standards and tailored to Local Land Services operations. It helps staff meet legal and policy requirements confidently and consistently.
3. Grant Management System (GMS): Local Land Services uses its own customised instance of OneGMS, powered by SmartyGrants. It supports all stages of the grant lifecycle, offers real-time reporting, and ensures compliance with the State Records Act 1998.
4. Education and Training: A suite of resources builds staff capability in grant delivery, policy application, and system use. This includes the Toolkit, e-learning modules, on-demand support, and Bridge training focused on best practice grant administration.

The Framework was applied to all Grants-related work from 1 July 2025.

Rates Reform

In response to landholder feedback, the Board revised the rates calculation method for the 2025 rating period to improve fairness, equity, and transparency within Local Land Services regions.

This involved each of the 11 Local Land Services regions transitioning to a single variable rate for General and Animal Health services in each region. This reduction to 11 variable ratings across the state is now down from the previous 30 separate rates.

The ‘rates equalisation’ approach considered the average of previous rates within regions. Therefore, there was no increase in the rates generated within a region, but a smoothing of what were variable rates within the region.

Approximately three quarters of ratepayers saw a decrease, no change, or an increase of less than $5. A small proportion experienced increases above five per cent.

No CPI adjustment was applied to rates for the 2025 rating period.

Economic or other factors affecting operations

The nature of the funding base of Local Land Services provides relative protection from the impact of general economic factors that affect the broader economy.

Operational activities are exposed to impacts from climate-related events including floods, bushfires and drought.

Local Land Services paused charging interest on overdue rates for May and June 2025 during the period following flood and drought impacting much of the agriculture sector in NSW.

Local Land Services actively managed these risks via clear governance arrangements with the NSW

Government, the Local Land Services Board and senior executive team. This included supporting staff via mental health and resilience training, rotating staff around the state where resources were needed most and adaptively managing on-ground delivery to offset environmental risks.

What our customers say

Local Land Services measures customer satisfaction through the MyView Survey, which is conducted after interactions between staff and customers. In Q3 2024–2025, Local Land Services updated the MyView survey with new questions to provide more valuable customer insights, along with a streamlined approach and simplified response options.

During 2024–2025, MyView survey feedback remained positive, with high customer experience scores and net promoter scores across the state, consistent with previous years' performance.

Feedback received via the MyView survey indicates that:

• customers highly value the services delivered by Local Land Services through workshops and information sessions
• customers appreciate staff interactions, particularly how the organisation addresses their issues and efficiently resolves enquiries.

The updated survey has yielded impressive results, including:

• speed of response: 4.7 out of 5
• helpfulness of team member/ team: 4.8 out of 5
• customer experience score: 9.0  (9.4 in old survey format)
• net promoter score: 73 out of 100.

Note that the Customer Experience score methodology changed from a 4-point scale to a 5-point scale, while the Net Promoter Score methodology remained unchanged.