Farmland the issue as Greens senator breaks new ground

The first Greens senator for Queensland yesterday signalled her resolve to make the state's most productive farmland "sacrosanct"

The first Greens senator for Queensland yesterday signalled her resolve to make the state's most productive farmland "sacrosanct"

ENVIRONMENTAL lawyer Larissa Waters said she would protect farmland where it is at risk from new multi-billion-dollar gas-to-LNG projects and other extractive resources industries.

Ms Waters said protection of the agricultural food bowl would be one of her priorities in the Senate, along with climate change and protection of the Great Barrier Reef, and she foreshadowed plans to amend federal environmental laws to benefit farmers.

Expressions of concern from Ms Waters over food production in Queensland were raised during her visit to an organic food market in inner Brisbane, humming with Greens supporters still on a high after the party's best results in a federal election.

"Queenslanders have voted for a Green to speak for them in the Senate, and it is the highest honour to be their voice," said Ms Waters, attributing the swing to support for policies on climate change, asylum-seekers, public education and public health.

The Queensland government and international oil and gas companies are backing massive new liquefied natural gas projects which involve an overall spend of tens of billions of dollars to extract coal-seam gas for conversion into LNG and delivery to international markets.

The projects offer an economic boon for the financially beleaguered state and the creation of thousands of jobs. Farmers and rural communities, however, are increasingly concerned about the potential environmental impacts.

Ms Waters said a tiny percentage of land in Queensland was so productive for food that it needed to be ring-fenced from resources companies involved in coalmining, underground coal gasification and CSG-to-LNG. Asked about farmland that overlaps land earmarked for resources extraction, she said: "We don't support those tenements being locked up in the first place.

"What I want to see as an environmental lawyer is our federal environmental laws amended so that the full impact of this resource extraction can be considered on farmland. At the moment, only the impacts on threatened species can be considered. That's important, too, but it's not everything. We need to look at the wider impact -- we need to look at the loss of productive farmland. This food producing land is too important for Queensland, it must be protected."

As Ms Waters, 33, took questions, her success after narrowly failing in 2007 was warmly welcomed by Greens supporters at the organic markets at Windsor, in Brisbane's inner north.

Former Democrat Andrew Bartlett achieved a vote of more than 20 per cent for the Greens in his tilt for the seat of Brisbane.