FEDERAL Labor says it will override the states and introduce even tougher vegetation management laws in an announcement that appears little more than a political ploy to shore up green preferences at the upcoming federal election.
The announcement drew an immediate angry reaction from farm groups.
AgForce president Grant Maudsley said it was disgraceful that Federal Labor was following the lead of Queensland Labor and was setting out to belt farmers over vegetation management.
"Farmers don't deserve to be demonised," Mr Maudsley said.
"Farmers are custodians of their land. The end result of these proposed land use changes will be rural poverty and an economic decline in regional communities.
"Rural poverty will cause more environmental harm than vegetation management as people put more pressure on their land to make ends meet.
"Labor's announcement is not driven by science, it's driven by politics.”
Shadow Environment Minister Mark Butler said Labor would legislate on land clearing “to restore the restrictions that were in place before Campbell Newman’s vandalism” in Queensland.
“These were extraordinarily important reforms that Peter Beattie and Anna Bligh put in place, I must say with the support of John Howard because he understood the importance of those reforms in achieving the Kyoto protocol commitments,” he said.
“So we will restore the position using Commonwealth powers.
“We know the Palaszczuk government has been trying to do that in the Queensland parliament, we will use the Commonwealth’s powers to do that and also to prevent Mike Baird from unpicking Bob Carr’s reforms which we understand he is now doing under the pressure from the NSW National Party.”
Mr Maudsley said the issue was outside the Federal Government's jurisdiction.
“But Labor clearly sees farmers as easy political targets to help them shore up green preferences ahead of the next Federal election,” he said.
Mr Maudsley called on Federal Opposition's environment spokesman Mark Butler to visit properties in rural Queensland so he could better understand the importance of managing vegetation to ensure land remains productive and environmental values are maintained.
It was on such a trip to Mitchell in 2004 that former Prime Minister John Howard famously retreated from his involvement in federal government plans to curtail vegetation management in Queensland, saying he would not proceed without the support of farmers.
"Politicians talk a lot about wanting to create jobs but you don't create jobs by introducing laws that destroy jobs, stifle regional development and push up food prices," Mr Maudsley said.
"Do Australian consumers really want higher food prices and more production on a reduced land area?
"That's not a good recipe for environmental outcomes.
"It's time the political attacks stopped so farmers can get on with the job of creating the high quality, affordable food and fibre Australia and the rest of the world needs now and into the future."
Property Rights Australia chairman Dale Stiller said farmers were under attack on multiple fronts.
“It’s no longer just the Palaszczuk government and with its draconian vegetation management laws and nature conservation act, now its the federal Labor Party who are happy to walk all over farmers to gain a political advantage,” Mr Stiller said.
“This is a nonsense. We need sound policy that balances the needs of agriculture and the environment, not grubby politics that very falsely paints farmers as environmental vandals.”
National Farmers Federation president Brent Finlay said Labor’s climate change policy placed the cost of achieving ambitious climate targets firmly on the shoulders of Australian farmers.
“Regulating land management is asking farmers who wish to develop land to almost single-handedly bear the cost of Australia’s biodiversity, and now climate goals, without access to a market or payments to deliver this service,” Mr Finlay said.
“This policy is unfair and fails to recognise the genuine opportunities that exist for farmers to make a meaningful contribution to meeting such ambitious carbon targets through measures including improving energy efficiency, reducing methane and nitrous oxide emissions and sequestration in soil.
“Innovation and facilitating farmers’ participation in carbon markets, not land use regulation, should be the core of Australia’s climate policy.
“It’s disappointing the ALP has failed to recognise the clear opportunities that exist.” – With Colin Bettles.
