Green denies environment laws hurt Far North agriculture sector
Senator Nita Green has rejected criticism that Labor’s Federal environmental laws will leave Far North farmers vulnerable to bushfires with approval processes making it hard to clear land near waterways.
Senator Nita Green has rejected criticism that Labor’s Federal environmental laws will leave Far North farmers vulnerable to bushfires with approval processes making it harder to clear land near waterways.
Queensland Primary Industries Minister Tony Perrett blasted changes to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act arguing that the regulations would expose properties to greater risk of blazes breaking out this summer.
The Act posed serious safety risks with farmers having to fight through red tape to reduce fuel loads and create firebreaks, Mr Perrett said.
“The Labor-Greens deal is an insult to Queensland’s farmers and forestry workers which overrides local knowledge, ignores decades of land stewardship and creates new federal powers to interfere in property rights,” he said.
“This deal completely ignores the realities of farming and imposes more red tape for people who are already doing the right thing.”
But Ms Green said that the tougher policies would help improve water quality on the Great Barrier Reef — an area of concern raised by UNESCO.
“It means that any activity is now subject to the same approval processes that a renewable energy project, a mining energy project, would have been susceptible to,” she said.
“We know that farmers take action to manage their own land, but we are asking them to get approval for actions that happen close to waterways, and that’s because we know that it has a huge impact on what runs off into the reef.
“This is something that we need to take action on. We are not meeting our water quality targets, and we need to.”
The World Heritage-listed site played a key role in the region’s economy, Ms Green said.
“77,000 jobs rely on the Great Barrier Reef,” she said.
“That’s why we’re taking these steps, delivering $1.2 billion of investment in the reef but also making sure that we protect our environment at the same time.”
Labor had tried to negotiate with the Coalition on changes to the EPBC Act before brokering a deal to pass the laws through the Senate.
“Unfortunately, they are such a mess at the moment,” Ms Green said of the LNP.
“They are hopelessly divided. They had multiple negotiators from different sides of the party with different amendments being put forward.
“It was an absolute mess and an indication of how bad (Opposition Leader) Susan Ley’s leadership really is. What we said is that we were going to pass these laws by the end of the year. We wanted to give businesses certainty.
“We wanted to give farmers certainty … it was time to get this done. We were willing to do a deal with the Greens or the Coalition, but the Coalition were unable to do a deal with themselves.”
Originally published as Green denies environment laws hurt Far North agriculture sector
