Labor backs down from land clearing ban motion at national conference

The proposal was paired with calls to end native logging and put to hundreds of party delegates at Labor's national conference in Brisbane.

However, land clearing was not mentioned in the following debate, which was dominated by the logging aspect of the motion.

After multiple amendments, a watered-down version of the motion that focused entirely on logging passed, which reaffirmed Labor's support for the Glasgow Leaders Declaration on forests and land use, which commits Australia to "halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030".

"Labor will deploy a variety of policy responses to deliver on our emission reduction and deforestation commitments including robust and additional nature-based solutions to prevent forest loss and degradation," the motion stated.

The party also committed to working with the states and territories on national vegetation mapping and monitoring programs.

Following the motion, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Murray Watt announced the government would rewrite its national forest policy statement, which has been in place since 1992.

National Farmers' Federation president Fiona Simson said it was a relief to see "commonsense prevail on the radical anti-farming motion" put up by LEAN.

"What passed is a far more sensible approach and will be a relief not only to farmers but right along the supply chain," Ms Simson said.

"It's imperative policy is driven by science and tailored to Australia's unique environment, not based on ideological hogwash and doctored data.

"Our door is always open to discussing the opportunities and challenges in front of agriculture when it comes to emissions reduction."

The Labor Environmental Action Network argued land clearing had to be banned to retain European market access, due to its incoming deforestation laws that require EU businesses to ensure their importers were not produced on deforested land.

In January, Nationals leader David Littleproud foreshadowed Labor would attempt to use the EU as "political cover" to enforce harsher land clearing laws.

"This is what we've always been concerned about, Labor looking for a stalking horse to bring in more restrictive laws for Australian farmers," Mr Littleproud said.

"If it's not the EU it'll be something else. They'll find another reason. This is their business model to bring in draconian laws, but look for someone else to blame for doing it."