A recently released draft Productivity Commission report has highlighted what farmers have been saying for a long time: our businesses are struggling under the weight of too much unnecessary regulation.
The draft report really shone a spotlight on the need to reduce the red tape burden if we are to unlock Queensland agriculture’s full potential.
Make no mistake – farmers do recognise that regulation is important, particularly in areas like biosecurity and food safety.
However, there is no doubt there are other examples of environmental and transport regulations that add unnecessary costs and reduce our competitiveness in the global market.
A rapid desktop review AgForce conducted as part of our submission to this inquiry showed that just at a state level, Queensland agriculture was affected by almost 18,000 pages of regulations in more than 75 Acts of Parliament.
It was pleasing to see the Productivity Commission pick up on many issues AgForce has consistently raised over many years with various inquiries and successive governments.
In particular, the report identified that native vegetation regulations need fundamental change to ensure economic and social factors are taken into account, and that transport regulations need to be improved by gazetting more heavy vehicle access routes, minimising the use of permits and improving competition in coastal shipping.
The report also highlighted the need for greater use of trusted international assessments to speed up the registration of agricultural and veterinary chemicals.
Queensland agriculture has the potential to grow from $17 billion a year to $30 billion a year, but we need sensible rules and regulations from governments at all levels if we are to deliver on our full potential.
Finally, I’d like to urge readers to come along to next week’s ‘Fair Laws for Farmers’ rally in Brisbane on Thursday August 4.
We will be marshalling at Queens Park next to the Treasury Casino from noon and marching to Parliament House from 12.30pm with the rally concluding by about 1pm.
Thank you to everyone who has got involved in this campaign so far – it’s been amazing to see so many people wanting to get vocal and take action to express their anger and frustration with these unfair laws.
