QUEENSLAND's controversial vegetation management laws are set to be once again overhauled, if the Liberal National Party can topple the Palaszczuk government at the October 31 election.
In a bold bid to both lock in the rural vote and flag its environmental credentials, Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington has adopted AgForce's landscape management policy in close to its entirety.
Ms Frecklington said her aim was to restore balance to Labor's flawed laws, allowing Queensland to both improve food security and create more jobs for young people growing up in the bush.
AgForce chief executive officer Michael Guerin said he wholeheartedly welcomed the LNP's announcement, saying farmers were advocating a policy of landscape restoration, not broadacre clearing.
"Landscape management does not mean facilitating a return to the wholesale land clearing of the past," Mr Guerin said.
"No one wants to see that, especially not the landholders who intrinsically care about the land because it's their workplace and often their home.
"What landholders have been seeking to do is to maintain a healthy balance between trees and grass. Management of the land and control of regrowth is what vegetation needs to be healthy and to regenerate."
Ms Frecklington said she wanted Queensland to produce more food and fibre, become less reliant on imports and create more jobs.
"But the Palaszczuk Labor government's unfair and unworkable anti-farmer laws have hurt agriculture and destroyed jobs in our regions," she said.
"The LNP will restore balance to our laws and deliver a long-term, sensible environmental landscape management policy for all Queenslanders."
Mr Guerin said the current vegetation management laws locked up land and prevented active management causing vegetation to thicken rapidly, often choking healthy ecosystems.
"Thinning feral landscapes allows for effective weed control, minimises the risk of pest animals, and reduces overgrown vegetation that can become a severe fire risk," he said. "We have seen the devastating results of that in action."
LNP Natural Resources spokesman Dale Last said if elected, an LNP government would work with all agricultural, community and environmental stakeholders.
"This will ensure our vitally-important environmental assets are protected, while allowing new jobs to be created in agriculture," Mr Last said. "These laws will fix the issues farmers have faced around harvesting fodder during this devastating drought, as well as supporting landholders in undertaking appropriate bushfire mitigation activities."
Mr Guerin said there had been very favourable support from the minor parties, including in recent meetings with the Greens, One Nation, and Katter's Australian Party. Farmers would welcome the same level of support from Labor, he said.
"Queensland's current laws limit what farmers can and can't do on their own land with harsh penalties for non-compliance, which does nothing to support innovation and good management," he said. "We need a bipartisan approach to this issue - a practical, balanced approach that gives landholders certainty that they can manage their land regardless of who is in power."
Mr Guerin said the LNP would broaden its appeal by investing further effort in natural capital, incentivising landholders for good landscape management.
