April 24, 2018
AgForce says Queensland farmers are angry and bitterly disappointed after a Parliamentary committee recommended vegetation management laws be passed without any changes.
AgForce General President Grant Maudsley said the recommendation from Labor MPs on the committee was an “absolute disgrace” and “slap in the face” for farming families who took the time to have their say and travelled vast distances to give evidence.
“These laws are the worst of both worlds. The changes will make it harder for farmers to grow food and fibre, shut down agricultural development opportunities and lead to worse not better environmental outcomes,” he said.
“There were thousands of click and flick submissions from supporters of the laws but the nearly 1000 submissions from rural landholders were heartfelt and personal accounts outlining how the laws would affect their lives and livelihoods.
“These pleas appear to have been completely ignored by Labor MPs on the committee who have shown how completely wedded they are to political agendas and how far removed they are from the realities of food and fibre production.
“Farmers love and care for their land and the vast majority know how to manage it responsibly.
“Farmers have had enough. It doesn’t have to be like this. There is no need to ram these flawed laws through as quickly as possible. We’re all in this together, we all eat food and we all care for the environment.
“The Palaszczuk Government can and should be working with the most disaffected and vulnerable on a long-lasting solution that provides good outcomes for agriculture and the environment without strangling farmers in red tape.”
Mr Maudsley said farmers would continue campaigning for fair and balanced laws and would rally outside Parliament House next Tuesday, May 1, ahead of the next sitting of State Parliament.
“Farmers are fighting for their ability to make a living and to ensure the next generation can actually have a future on the land,” he said.
“If farmers can’t feed their families, they can’t feed yours.
“I call on all Queenslanders to support farmers sustainably producing food and fibre, and join with us to send a message to the state’s politicians that they can and must come up with a better solution to an issue that’s been divisive for two decades.”
In addition to recommending the laws be passed, the committee suggested information sheets and an education campaign be developed and extra extension officers employed to explain to landholders how the laws will work.
The report recommended streamlining the process and “cost impost” – which AgForce describes as a new $3130 fee – around development applications that will now be required for routine maintenance on farmers’ properties.
Mr Maudsley said the recommendations were little more than token gestures that would do nothing to ensure farmers could keep sustainably producing food and fibre.
“Information sheets and an education campaign won’t feed cows in a drought,” he said.
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LNP Shadow Minister for Natural Resources Dale Last said he was devastated the parliamentary committee had endorsed the changes despite overwhelming opposition from the community.
“Thousands of Queenslanders voted with their feet, attended hearings, and made a record amount of submissions only to be ignored by the Labor Government,” Mr Last said.
“The message from regional and rural communities has been loud and clear – stop attacking our farmers.
“Labor MPs visited rural and regional towns, heard the overwhelming evidence to leave the laws alone, and yet will still ram them down the throat of farmers and communities.
“The process has failed farmers, their families and farming communities right across Queensland.
“It’s clear that the entire committee process has been a complete sham.”
Mr Last said the committee’s endorsement of proposed changes to laws would hinder farmers.
“Instead of supporting farmers, the laws will tie them up in more red tape and threaten their ability to grow the food we put our tables and the fibre we put on our backs,” he said.
“These laws are a kick in the guts for our hard-working farmers.”
- A copy of the Committee’s report is available online
