Queensland’s peak rural lobby group AgForce will use crowdfunding to accelerate its campaign against proposed changes to tree clearing laws. Source: ABC Rural
The Government introduced the Vegetation Management Bill in March this year, which proposes to “reinstate responsible vegetation management laws for Queensland”.
The State Government has made it clear it has a mandate to tighten the tree clearing legislation — and it also has the support of Federal Labor, which has said it would not hesitate to overrule the current laws if elected. But Agforce said it would not compromise on what it described as unfair laws that would drive up food prices and cost farmers their livelihoods.
President Grant Maudsley said the Fair Laws for Farmers campaign would target politicians and the public, particularly those in marginal seats, and would involve billboards and protest rallies.
“The job for us is to convince the backbenchers and the cabinet ministers that these laws are just not fair for farmers and that they’re going to cost jobs and drive up food prices and stifle development,” he said.
“We’ve never asked for a return to broad-scale land clearing in Queensland; we just want some sensible land management and we want this Government to get out of the road and let us get on with the job.”
Mr Maudsley said he was determined that the legislation would not go through, despite it being a clear election promise of the Palaszczuk Government.
“As for election promises, there have been taxes brought in that weren’t [election promises] either, so broken election promises are something that have already happened in this state and it’s just rubbish to think that [the tree clearing laws] was the basis on which this Government was elected,” he said.
Agforce said it wanted the proposed law thrown out and was not prepared to compromise.
“There’s no compromise here, just throw them clean out and start again,” Mr Maudsley said.
Before the recent federal election, Federal Opposition Agriculture spokesperson Joel Fitzgibbon stood by Labor’s position, that it would intervene if necessary, to ensure the existing vegetation management legislation — which was brought in by the former Newman Government — was repealed.
Mr Fitzgibbon said that if state laws were in breach of International Agreements, to which Australia was a signatory, it was prepared to act.
“A Shorten Labor Government will test any state legislation at any state level to determine whether it is consistent with what we have decided as a community, that both the Coalition and Labor have decided in the past is in the best interests of Australia and the global community,” he said. “I am not here to say that we would be repealing Queensland legislation.
“What I am here to say is that if legislation emerges that is inconsistent with our international treaty obligations, and is inconsistent with best sustainable management and profitability practices of Australian agriculture, then a future Labor Government will have a view about that.”
