FIRST it was reintroducing dacronian bans on vegetation management.
Then it was scrapping the highly successful royalties for the regions program.
Now Labor will deliver more and tougher regulations on livestock production through the creation of a new animal welfare advisory board to oversee how livestock is farmed, transported and slaughtered.
The policy is included in Labor's pre-election generated plan for agriculture, Food and Fibre, which details party leader Annastacia Palaszczuk's vision for Queensland agriculture. The policy would create a new animal welfare advisory board consisting of technical, community and industry representatives to advise on issues associated with the development and promotion of codes of practice for the humane treatment of production animals.
"The treatment of animals on farm, in transport and at the point of slaughter is becoming a significant and growing issue," Ms Palaszczuk's document says.
"How animals are treated will clearly determine how they are farmed, transported and slaughtered in the future. Industry needs to be proactive and able to demonstrate that it is following best practice. The new board will provide best-practice advice."
The announcement appears to be another green-driven policy aimed more at attracting urban votes than securing rural support. It follows hard on the heels of Labor's promise to restore Queensland's reviled Vegetation Management Act.
Membership of the new animal welfare advisory board remains unclear. Labor agriculture spokesman Anthony Lynham said in a statement the board would give Queensland meat and livestock exporters significant advantage over other countries in giving overseas buyers and consumers complete assurance of the humane and respectful treatment of production animals on the farm, in transport and at the point of slaughter.
"The vast majority of graziers do the right thing simply because it is the right thing to do and because having healthy livestock is in their best interests," the statement said.
Agriculture Minister John McVeigh said Labor's plans for agriculture ignored a commitment to maintain a dedicated department to service agriculture.
"Labor had spent years demonising farmers and farm communities with its red and green tape," Mr McVeigh said. "They've learnt nothing with their plans to roll back the LNP's vegetation management reforms and add more red tape with their panel to oversee animal handling.
"Government services for farmers and farm industries will be lost in the bowels of a super bureaucracy, bereft of leadership and focus, if Labor was elected. That's a real worry, and a slap in the face for farmers and tens of thousands of people employed in the sector and related industries."
Dr McVeigh said agriculture was one of the four pillars of the economy and a strong plan was needed to guarantee growth in jobs and in the industry. "Our farmers need a standalone department that is fully focused on their needs, committed to frontline service delivery and helping to boost productivity, as our strong plan does," he said.
Dr McVeigh said Labor dropped the ball on a range of biosecurity issues when last in charge, including Asian honeybees, crazy ants and the tick line, while the national fire-ant program was used primarily for media stunts by the minister. "Labor simply can't be trusted to fulfill its commitments," he said. "Annastacia Palaszczuk is now promising to increase resources to fight wild dogs and cats, but under Labor, farmers faced the ridiculous regulation that bait meat for wild dogs had to be of human consumption grade."
Dr McVeigh said the LNP had spent the past three years re-building DAFF, with common sense and full engagement with industry on the frontline services they need.
"Only under a Newman LNP government will farmers have certainty as well as clear, industry-supported long-term plans to boost production and profitability," he said.
Queensland's agriculture sector and the thousands of jobs it supports would be threatened under Labor, which has refused to commit to a dedicated department and minister for this key pillar of the economy.
The Palaszczuk policy says the LNP has wound the clock back more than 20 years.
"This ignores the reality that agriculture is more than just growing products and looking after sectional interests," the policy reads. "For all the talk that the LNP is pro growth and pro business, it fails to recognise the importance of the entire supply chain, from 'gate to plate'."