PEAK industry body Growcom has slammed the Palaszczuk government’s Vegetation Management Committee’s recommendation to pass new vegetation management laws without amendment, compromising the potential of high value agriculture.
Growcom chair Les Williams said the entire committee process had been a farce and the emissions generated from flying the committee around the country were more than those saved by preventing clearing for horticulture.
“56 hectares per year is cleared for horticulture which amounts to just 18 cars worth of emissions, but can generate around $2 million for the Queensland economy,” Mr Williams said.
“It’s quite clear it would not have mattered what we said at the committee hearing, the government was committed to going ahead with this legislation unamended.
“We are disappointed because there seems to be no interest in protecting good quality agricultural land for food production which we are losing at an alarming rate of 5700ha per year.”
Mr Williams said governments were focused on increasing export opportunities but it was a wasted effort if production areas continued to be lost.
“We note the committee did not refer to the statement from the Environmental Defenders Office which supported our calls for better protection of agricultural land,” Mr Williams said.
“Now we call on the Queensland Government to work with us on a sensible framework for the protection of agricultural land and prove that they are serious about protecting the state’s farmers and the communities they serve.”
Mr Williams said horticulture had vastly different needs to broadacre farming.
“It cannot just be pushed out into marginal cattle country,” he said.
“Our industry needs to be able to manage its land efficiently and effectively to ensure we can feed our population into the future.
“The Labor government’s new vegetation management laws are a step backwards unless they’re the start of a better planning process for the protection of high-value agricultural land.
“If there is an expectation that we move toward more organic styles of farming, then we will need significantly more land to produce the same amount of fruit and vegetables.
“Fundamentally, you can’t have your organic carrot and eat it too so we need to get some sanity into our planning laws across the board.”
