AgForce Qld has called on the Federal Government to establish an Office of Science Integrity to guarantee quality assurance of the science behind Great Barrier Reef regulations and water quality targets.
CEO Michael Guerin said the evidence against the science and models currently being used to justify the creation of reef regulations and standards continued to mount.
“The ‘science’ being used by the State Government to defend a whole range of new regulations is flawed and has not been peer-reviewed by the broader scientific community,” Mr Guerin said.
“Instead, it has been cherry-picked to meet the demands of WWF and green groups like them so they can point the finger squarely at agriculture, and it’s happening because the world needs a scapegoat.
“The reef is not at risk from agriculture. It is at risk from baseless rhetoric and flawed science that is leaking truth at an alarming rate.
“The reef is an emotional issue, we understand that. No one wants to see it or the sea life that inhabits it suffering.
“That’s why we need to start focusing on the facts, today, by establishing an independent Office of Scientific Integrity that is not beholden to political or environmental ideology and has the expertise to ensure the science underpinning these state-imposed regulations is valid.
“For the first time I can remember industry has genuinely united around this critical issue.
“The frustration and anger from farmers on the ground is real.
“Many have been doing the right thing for years – or live so far from the Reef and the waterways that flow into it that it is plainly ridiculous to impose yet more regulations on them.
“Is it any wonder succession planning – handing family farms on to the next generation – is at risk of stalling.
“And if that continues to happen and increasing numbers of farming families are driven away from the industry completely, they take with them the security of our food production at the time we need it most.”
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