The Scheme aimed and succeeded in assisting those pastoral enterprises that indicated to have long-term economic viability and environmental and pastoral sustainability. The Scheme provided financial grant assistance for property improvements and infrastructure, capital restructuring, partnership arrangements and enterprise succession, and was administered through the Queensland Rural Adjustment Authority (QRAA, now known as QRIDA – Queensland Rural and Industry Development Authority).
An agreement between State and Federal Governments provided four million dollars for the Scheme. Signed in August 1998, the first interest subsidy payment was made in May 1999. Of the 104 applicants (representing just under a third of the Bioregion’s total grazing enterprises), 55 were approved and funded. The Scheme closed in August 2003 with the last of the project work completed in 2006. With a total of $30,000 per annum for a maximum three years, for each enterprise, the Enterprise Reconstruction Scheme demonstrated the effectiveness of astute and planned investment into building-up viable livestock grazing enterprises constrained by years of drought. The Desert Steps Ahead Project followed on from this, though its real legacy is those strengthened enterprises, and the bioregional-wide experience and knowledge gained in strategic investment in improving our enterprises.