October 9, 2014
AgForce has welcomed the State Government’s announcement this week that another 3 million hectares would be added to the strategic cropping land (SCL) area trigger map.
The decision will increase agricultural land under protection by more than 40 per cent, from 7.23 million ha to 10.17 million ha.
AgForce Grains President Wayne Newton said with more than half of Queensland currently covered by resource tenements, and forecast continued expansion in the sector, the role of the SCL framework remained critical.
“Without land protections, substantially more irreplaceable agricultural soils could be lost permanently to resource sector activity and other alienating development in the coming decades,” Mr Newton said.
“AgForce called for an increase in the land area considered during the government’s 2013 review of SCL framework, and (this) announcement is a significant step forward in meeting that request.”
Mr Newton said the State Government had indicated the new trigger map would be continually refined to accurately identify Queensland’s best cropping land.
Protections for SCL are now delivered under the Regional Planning Interests Act 2014 passed earlier this year.
For landholders with SCL now identified on their properties, it means that where a voluntary agreement can’t be reached, the resource proponent must meet a number of assessment criteria in a Regional Interests Development Assessment application.
These assessment criteria include:
- All reasonable steps were taken to consult and negotiate with the landholder on impacts
- The activity firstly avoids and then minimises its footprint on priority land
- The activity will not cause a loss of more than 2 per cent of SCL on a property
If more than one property with SCL is to be affected by a resource activity, then a number of additional regional-level criteria also have to be met, including the potential for mitigation measures for impacted SCL.
The trigger map will be updated and finalised by the end of 2014 to reflect the new areas of protected land.
Once finalised, the updated SCL trigger map will be available online
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The Queensland Farmers’ Federation also welcomed the announcement.
“It is fundamental to the prospects of future productivity growth that we secure our most valuable agricultural resources, particularly high value land and water resources,” QFF CEO Dan Galligan said.
“QFF has been a strong campaigner for sensible planning laws that protect agricultural assets and these amendments bring about consistency between the work the government has done under agricultural land audits and the existing SCL trigger maps.
“Once the transition issues and maps are completed this will extend the protection afforded to this land and therefore provide a much more secure operating environment for primary producers in these areas.”
