Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the senator for his question. Defence training areas, particular Shoalwater Bay Training Area and Townsville Field Training Area, are critical assets to our defence capability. The scale and scope of training activities and the training areas to support those activities have changed considerably since 1969. Shoalwater Bay Training Area may be available for the grazing of cattle for limited time frames and in limited sectors. Accordingly, the government would need to consider any use of Shoalwater Bay Training Area for grazing on a case-by-case basis. The decision to allow cattle to graze on Defence land would probably be progressed as a Defence Assistance to the Civil Community request. The approving authority for a DACC request is the Minister for Defence or the Chief of the Defence Force. As yet, neither has received a request from the Newman government.

The Queensland government's reaction to the plight of drought stricken graziers is just a litany of mismanagement. Even in the awful millennium drought nobody grazed their cattle in our national parks. The Queensland is simply looking for an excuse to cover up its own ongoing mismanagement.