Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I, and also on behalf of Senator Ciccone, move:

That, in the opinion of the Senate, the following is a matter of urgency:

The significant impact that the European Union Deforestation Regulation will likely have on Australian beef producers because of the EU's definition of forest and uncertainty about its implementation; and hence the consequent need to delay the implementation of the Regulation until these matters can be resolved.

I recognise the great achievements of the Australian cattle industry. It's an industry that has existed in this country from pretty much the inception of European settlement here in Australia. In fact, the First Fleet brought over the first herd, so to speak—four cows and two bulls. They were put out to pasture on Bennelong Point, where the Sydney Opera House now stands. It didn't go so well because they escaped from that area within weeks, and the first settlers lost them. But it was actually a happy circumstance because around 20 years later they found this herd of cattle south of Sydney that had flourished; hundreds of cows had bred and naturally grazed on Australian pasture lands. There was no human development, no clearing of land; it was just a natural place where cows could survive and ultimately build the cattle industry we have. I remember being at a meeting in Normanton where Fred Pascoe, a great Indigenous leader, spoke about how the cattle industry is now part of his people's culture. He is part-owner, with other Indigenous leaders, of the Delta Downs cattle station in the Gulf of Carpentaria.

The cattle industry is part of our country's heritage and history, and it's why there's been such a reaction from the industry to the attempt of another nation's government—another colonial power—to take over and dictate what Australian graziers should do on their own lands and properties, including Indigenous Australians who run their own cattle properties now. The European Union, a few years ago, introduced a new set of regulations called the deforestation regulations. They cover a range of products, but the one I'm focusing on is beef. In short, those regulations mean that in areas of Australia that the EU deems forest land we will not be able to raise, graze and ultimately produce beef from cattle. If any cow sets foot in an area the European Union deems forested area, it won't be able to be exported as a beef product or other animal product to the EU. I think this is gross overreach into the sovereignty of another nation. It should be the job of an elected representative body either here in Canberra or at state level to decide how our land is regulated in such a detailed way. But you also, of course, get the normal problems when other governments—on the other side of the world, in this case—seek to dictate what should be best for the environment and for agricultural production in a part of the world they obviously know very little about.

The European Union's regulations have a number of challenges for our graziers. Those regulations dictate that, of any area that has a canopy of five metres or above, over 10 per cent is deemed forest land. Consistent with my example from the First Fleet, a lot of our pastoral lands have not been cleared. They are naturally part of the environment already available for cattle grazing, even with a large amount of woodlands on them. It's very different from the European situation, where they have very thick forests and, to graze cattle, they have to clear those forests. That's not necessarily the case in Australia, where there is lots of downs country that is naturally formed in that way, or it has been slightly cleared over time but it's been part of our practice to do that.

The Europeans have put out maps of the forest areas that they reckon exist in Australia. They've taken it upon themselves to map our own country. That area covers 144 million hectares, not far off the size of Victoria, and 44 per cent of the green blotches the EU have on their map are actually grazing lands in Australia.

There remain huge issues with the implementation of the EU regulations. They haven't finalised the country-benchmarking scheme. There is no clarity for our beef industry on how they would comply with these regulations.

The reason we're moving this motion is to respectfully ask the European Union to look again at these regulations and to defer their implementation. We're not the only country in this boat, asking for a deferral. We ask that they look properly at this issue and not seek to overregulate another part of the world that they don't really understand, understandably, which will only actually worsen environmental outcomes here in Australia and cause economic damage to the relationship that we have with our friends in Europe. We should work together on these issues, not seek to pass laws against each other's nations, ignorant of the facts on the ground.