Labor to use EU trade as 'political cover' for tougher land clearing laws

Within two years, EU beef importers will be obligated to verify their products "have not been produced on deforested or degraded land anywhere in the world".

Meanwhile, Labor has vowed there will be no new extinctions under its government. To keep the promise, experts say Labor will be forced to address land clearing - which is one of the leading causes of extinctions - in its proposed environmental law reforms.

Nationals leader David Littleproud is concerned the EU trade deal would be used as a weapon to enforce tougher vegetation management laws.

READ MORE: No new extinction policy untenable with agriculture land clearing

"It's rat cunning... they will shape it through the politics and guise of international trade to give them political cover domestically," Mr Littleproud said.

"I am worried, they're coming after agriculture and they're going to use the EU restrictions as a proxy to say 'it's not us, it's actually our trading partners that are imposing all this on us'.

"The politics of Labor is brilliant, but the practical reality and application of the policy is going to do farmers right over."

Mr Littleproud's concerns coincide with a dramatic tone shift on agricultural land clearing by Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek.

When previously questioned about the tension between agricultural land clearing and Labor's no new extinction policy, Ms Plibersek said most ag land cleared in Australia did not fall under national laws because it was "done small piece by small piece", palmed the issue off to the state governments or referred questions to her department.

But following reports of illegal clearing within the Northern Territory cotton industry, Ms Plibersek said unauthorised land clearing had to end to protect threatened species, which was why Labor was committed to fixing the "broken environmental laws".

"There must be serious consequences for anyone who does the wrong thing," Ms Plibersek said.

"It's why we're setting up a new independent Environment Protection Agency to make decisions under national environmental law and properly enforce them."

READ ALSO: Gold Coast-sized area illegally cleared by farmers puts issue on national agenda

Currently under national environmental laws, any land clearing that could impact a threatened species should be self-referred to the federal government.

However, the regulations are rarely followed or enforced within the agricultural sector, which says the unfair laws require landholders to make an ecological judgement or spend thousands on an ecologist.

Agriculture Minister Murray Watt is currently in Berlin to further negotiate the EU free trade agreement.

Mr Littleproud said if the EU demanded strict land clearing regulations, the government should consider leaving agriculture out of the trade agreement.

"If the bar is too high, we do a trade deal on everything else, but not ag," he said.

"[The EU] doesn't appreciate the production systems in Australia are different to the EU. Our environment, our ecology is totally different and imposing their production systems has no practical sense."