In January 2015, when he was campaigning as the ALP candidate for Warrego, Mark O’Brien told the public the then-Opposition leader Annastacia Palaszczuk had asked him to be her “eyes and ears for the bush” and he promised he would represent the bush very strongly on its opposition to the repeal of LNP vegetation management laws.
Last week Mr O’Brien, the chairman of the South West NRM group, acknowledged that while he had spoken to members of the government, he had not had any conversations with either the deputy Premier or the Premier.
“I have put in a request recently,” he said.
According to Mr O’Brien, everybody can win from the current tense situation if they just talk sensibly.
“The rule changes everyone’s panicking about haven’t got through Parliament, and I want to lead the charge to make sure they’re not changed, from the inside.
“There’s a big difference between mulga lands and a pristine creek that feeds into the Great Barrier Reef, but it’s all been thrown into the pond together.”
Mr O’Brien advocates a separate set of rules for the mulga bioregion.
“It’s part of our feeding regime that helps people survive drought. The Premier needs to understand that,” he said.
He believed most graziers were happy to protect high value vegetation and just wanted certainty rather than the “chop and change” drama that came with every change of government.
“Self-assessment is a good idea,” he said. “I support that, and any idea of tree police is over the top in modern-day Queensland.”
He was promoting an atmosphere of calm, saying that with Rob Pyne’s decision to leave the Labor Party and run as an independent, there was less chance of legislation being introduced.
At the same time he was keen to impress upon the Premier the importance of this issue for rural Queensland.