Vegetation management
Security for the future
If farmers are to manage their natural resources – land and water – in an environmentally sustainable way, then they must have certainty about their long-term access to those resources.
Vegetation management is a core policy area for AgForce as the security of Queensland's agricultural resources is increasingly challenged by government policy, pressure from 'green groups', mining and urban development.
2010 senate inquiry
In February 2010, the Federal Government announced a Senate inquiry into Australia’s native vegetation laws.
AgForce continues to lead the debate to ensure certainty for primary producers in managing their land, with a submission to the inquiry.
In our submission, AgForce reiterated that we do not support a regulatory approach to dealing with further changes in vegetation management. Such practices have been utilised by the State Government in the past, through restrictive regulations of land clearing, and has created significant limitations to future farm productivity.
The agriculture sector is willing to make a further contribution to landscape and biodiversity outcomes, and AgForce believes work must begin immediately to develop alternative, voluntary measures that correct the current policy and give producers certainty about their role in managing land for positive environmental outcomes for the broader community.
In the submission, AgForce proposed a framework which provides investment certainty, creates financial incentives for adopting environmental and biodiversity practices; is based on sound science but entails a low administrative burden; acknowledges previous good practice; supports partnerships with other renewable sectors and is governed by a voluntary partnership approach.
To read AgForce's vegetation management submission please log in via the Members Login button (located at the top right of the screen).
Regrowth moratorium
As part of a state election promise, on April 7, 2009, Queensland Premier Anna Bligh announced a moratorium on the clearing of certain types of regrowth.
The moratorium expired at midnight on October 7, 2009, when the government introducing new vegetation management laws.
AgForce lead the way in ensuring the Queensland Government understood the implications of the moratorium and legislation to sustainable agricultural production, and took state Ministers and senior bureaucrats out to properties so they could see the affects of well-managed land.
AgForce's policy input on behalf of broadacre producers who are sustainably managing their land was recognised in the new legislation.
What does the new legislation mean?
A key element is that land which has been managed since 31 December 1989 is exempt from the legislation, therefore producers who have sustainably managed woody weeds over the past two decades can continue doing so to maintain ground cover.
Pre-1989 vegetation can be managed with a self assessable code, and landholders with category X on an existing Property Maps of Assessable Vegetation (PMAV) are also exempt from this new legislation.
Practices covered by permits – such as clearing for fence lines, fire-management or for fodder – can also continue.
Have you checked your map?
AgForce urges members to check their regional ecosystems and regrowth maps, which may be different now that the moratorium on clearing certain kinds of regrowth has ended.
Vegetation management in the news
AgForce led the way to ensure policy makers and the urban community understood the potential impact to food production if farmers lost the ability to sustainably manage woody weeds through this legislation, but driving the issue in urban media. See our media releases and news coverage.
If farmers are to manage their natural resources – land and water – in an environmentally sustainable way, then they must have certainty about their long-term access to those resources.
Vegetation management is a core policy area for AgForce as the security of Queensland's agricultural resources is increasingly challenged by government policy, pressure from 'green groups', mining and urban development.
2010 senate inquiry
In February 2010, the Federal Government announced a Senate inquiry into Australia’s native vegetation laws.
AgForce continues to lead the debate to ensure certainty for primary producers in managing their land, with a submission to the inquiry.
In our submission, AgForce reiterated that we do not support a regulatory approach to dealing with further changes in vegetation management. Such practices have been utilised by the State Government in the past, through restrictive regulations of land clearing, and has created significant limitations to future farm productivity.
The agriculture sector is willing to make a further contribution to landscape and biodiversity outcomes, and AgForce believes work must begin immediately to develop alternative, voluntary measures that correct the current policy and give producers certainty about their role in managing land for positive environmental outcomes for the broader community.
In the submission, AgForce proposed a framework which provides investment certainty, creates financial incentives for adopting environmental and biodiversity practices; is based on sound science but entails a low administrative burden; acknowledges previous good practice; supports partnerships with other renewable sectors and is governed by a voluntary partnership approach.
To read AgForce's vegetation management submission please log in via the Members Login button (located at the top right of the screen).
Regrowth moratorium
As part of a state election promise, on April 7, 2009, Queensland Premier Anna Bligh announced a moratorium on the clearing of certain types of regrowth.
The moratorium expired at midnight on October 7, 2009, when the government introducing new vegetation management laws.
AgForce lead the way in ensuring the Queensland Government understood the implications of the moratorium and legislation to sustainable agricultural production, and took state Ministers and senior bureaucrats out to properties so they could see the affects of well-managed land.
AgForce's policy input on behalf of broadacre producers who are sustainably managing their land was recognised in the new legislation.
What does the new legislation mean?
A key element is that land which has been managed since 31 December 1989 is exempt from the legislation, therefore producers who have sustainably managed woody weeds over the past two decades can continue doing so to maintain ground cover.
Pre-1989 vegetation can be managed with a self assessable code, and landholders with category X on an existing Property Maps of Assessable Vegetation (PMAV) are also exempt from this new legislation.
Practices covered by permits – such as clearing for fence lines, fire-management or for fodder – can also continue.
Have you checked your map?
AgForce urges members to check their regional ecosystems and regrowth maps, which may be different now that the moratorium on clearing certain kinds of regrowth has ended.
Vegetation management in the news
AgForce led the way to ensure policy makers and the urban community understood the potential impact to food production if farmers lost the ability to sustainably manage woody weeds through this legislation, but driving the issue in urban media. See our media releases and news coverage.