There was once a philosopher who famously pondered the question, “if a tree falls in the woods and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?”
The philosopher believed the question could not be answered.
It’s clear this philosopher did not own a block of land in rural Queensland at a time when the Labor Party held the reins of power in state government.
These days it seems there are many lurking around, listening for falling trees.
You can stand in Brisbane city these days and watch a conga line of extreme green activists coming and going from George Street.
They are armed with Google maps and drones and FOI requests. And they all feel entitled to oversee our every move.
The sound that is increasingly coming after any tree falls in rural Queensland is that of a litany of groundless complaints from Labor’s much maligned ‘tree police’ and extreme green groups such as The Wilderness Society.
Our rural people can no longer carry out their lawful land clearing, despite possessing valid permits, without being forced to once again look over their shoulders in expectation of intimidation and scare-mongering from city-based politicians, bureaucrats and activists.
We now know the Palaszczuk government is willing to go to extraordinary measures to stop the planned development in Northern Australia.
We have an absurd situation where the state government has repeatedly written to the federal government calling for some form of intervention from Canberra’s environmental bureaucrats because landholders who are clearing in Queensland are not breaking any state laws.
Unfortunately, this prompted the federal Department of Environment to construct a poorly-written and heavy-handed letter to Queensland permit holders in the days before Christmas.
I have taken this action as a personal affront aimed at my rural constituents and I have demanded answers.
But, meanwhile, the Palaszczuk government knows its ability to change state legislation is limited.
It is cornered into the pitiful position of complaining about Queensland’s existing laws because it does not possess a mandate from the Queensland people to introduce draconian environmental policies that will stagnate economic growth in rural communities and prevent the northern parts of our state from realising their full potential.
Unless Labor could convince Billy Gordon - whose electorate incorporates large areas of farmland, including the awarding of two high profile clearing permits - it does not have the numbers in parliament to bring about change to the sensible vegetation management reforms introduced by the Newman government.
It also does not seem to matter how many times industry groups meet with Labor to discuss the science and economics of vegetation management, Labor is unwilling to listen.
It always accepts the words of a greenie with a Google map and a spreadsheet over that of a farmer who lives and breathes his land, and whose entire economic future is dependent on it.
Whether it is the trade unionists the fill the ranks of the Labor movement or the environmentalists across the green movement, these groups and individuals too often build their careers by fighting to restrict the activities of other groups, such as family farms and small business.
Perhaps it’s time they have a long, hard look at the impact their actions have on employment, economic growth and overall community prosperity when they attempt to supress development in rural communities.
Perhaps that is a new philosophical question they could ponder while the rest of us get on with job of building a stronger economy.
