FARMERS have been slapped down by claims that no real evidence was ever presented showing that changes were necessary to the Palaszczuk government new vegetation management laws.
Speaking in parliament on Tuesday, Chris Whiting (Bancroft, ALP) said after conducting consultation and hearings on the bill he did not hear anything that led him to the conclusion that Labor needed to make any changes to this bill.
Mr Whiting was the chair of the parliamentary committee charged with reviewing the controversial legislation.
The dominant Labor members of that six person committee recommended the laws be passed without change despite hundreds of submissions from farmers on how the new laws would damage both their farm businesses and the environment.
The three LNP members on the committee delivered a dissenting report, opposing the laws.
“No-one had any alternatives as to how to protect the reef from run-off and nutrients,” Mr Whiting said.
“The committee did not hear how we could abate the CO2 emissions that are released by land clearing. It is clear to us on this side (Labor) why we need this legislation.”
Mr Whiting said there was nothing in the bill that would prevent farmers from doing their everyday business.
“There has been a lot of misinformation peddled by the LNP,” Mr Whiting said.
“There is nothing in the codes being proposed that will prevent landholders managing their land responsibly.”
LNP leader Deb Frecklington said she was proud to stand with the wall of farmers who rallied outside Parliament House to fight Labor’s vegetation management laws.
“I assure every Queensland farmer and grazier that the Liberal National Party stands shoulder to shoulder with them to oppose these unfair and unbalanced laws,” Ms Frecklington said.
“We marched in the streets to fight Labor’s devastating 1999 laws, we introduced landmark reforms to vegetation management in 2013, we defended those laws against a renewed Labor attack in 2016 and we will keep fighting them until the bitter end.”