QUEENSLAND landholders have hit back at deputy premier Jackie Trad’s latest farmer bashing episode, saying tree clearing statistics are being selectively used by the Palaszczuk government to ramp up support for its controversial new vegetation management laws.
AgForce president Grant Maudsley said Ms Trad was misrepresenting the latest Statewide Landcover and Trees Study (SLATS) report and was ramping up rhetoric surrounding the Great Barrier Reef in a desperate bid to shore up support for proposed vegetation management laws.
If passed, the Vegetation Management and (Reinstatement) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill will stifle development opportunities, cost jobs and drive up food prices, Mr Maudsley said.
The controversial bill is expected to be introduced to parliament sometime this month. If passed in its current form, the legislation would be retrospective to March 17.
The anti-agriculture laws are widely seen as pay back from Labor to the extreme green movement, which includes the Wilderness Society and WFF, for its support during the January 2015 Queensland election campaign.
Mr Maudsley said the SLATS report revealed that only about 0.2 per cent of woody vegetation cover was being cleared in Queensland.
"The Palaszczuk Government continues to speak about clearing rates in isolation rather than as total vegetation cover, which ignores the fact that their own data has shown an increase in wooded vegetation cover of more than 400,000 hectares in recent years,” Mr Maudsley said.
“Meanwhile, the Government continues to allow clearing of land for urban development, resource projects and infrastructure corridors."
Mr Maudsley said the primary focus of the SLATS report was to measure vegetation clearing, which was only part of the story.
“It's akin to measuring how many people mowed their lawn,” he said.
“The reality is you have to mow your lawn regularly or it overgrows and similarly, farmers have to manage and maintain vegetation on their properties to prevent thickening.
"More than 80 per cent of Queensland is still gripped by drought and this report has shown that the brigalow belt and mulga Lands continue to record the highest woody vegetation clearing rates in 2014-15.
“This is largely farmers sustainably harvesting mulga to feed their starving livestock - a fact even one of the Queensland Government's own scientists has acknowledged in media reports today.”
Mr Maudsley said with the report showing no increase in overall clearing rates this year compared to last year, the Palaszczuk government had instead chosen to ramp up their reef rhetoric and unnecessarily attack farmers.
"Like all Australians, farmers want to ensure the Great Barrier Reef is protected and preserved for generations to come," Mr Maudsley said.
"The agriculture sector is doing its bit to improve water quality through the roll-out of best management practice programs which help farmers benchmark their business against the best industry standards using the best available science.
"The reality is that everyone, including farmers, graziers, developers, all levels of government, the resources sector, traditional owners, tourism operators and members of the community must be part of the solution to protect and preserve the Great Barrier Reef now and into the future.
"AgForce will consider this report in detail over coming days, but we maintain our view that the proposed vegetation management laws are politically motivated by a Government that prefers to look at vegetation via satellites rather than on the ground with the people who manage it."
Ms Trad maintains the new vegetation management laws are both effective and balanced, despite being heavily criticised by both farm and legal groups.
