Barry O'Sullivan (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Resources and Northern Australia, Senator Canavan. Minister, my home state of Queensland is approximately 84 per cent agricultural land. This includes the Darling Downs and Maranoa region, which I represent in part, which has a diverse agricultural sector ranging from cattle to cotton and wheat. Can the minister update the Senate on any recent developments that may affect this more than $13 billion sector in Queensland?

Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Minister for Resources and Northern Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator O'Sullivan for his question. I know Senator O'Sullivan not only is a strong advocate for farming in Queensland but also has spent much of the last five weeks or so travelling through those parts of Queensland that are particularly affected by drought. Last week, unfortunately, the Queensland parliament passed laws which will restrict agricultural development in Queensland. They passed them with almost 100 per cent opposition from the Queensland farming sector. They passed them without a regulation impact statement. They passed them without consulting the Queensland agricultural sector itself. Indeed, their own parliamentary committee accepted that the government had not consulted with the Queensland farming sector before those laws came in.

Queensland farmers are deadset against these laws for a range of reasons, but one that's particularly pertinent at the moment is their ability to manage and respond to drought. As I mentioned, Senator O'Sullivan knows well how much of Queensland at the moment is in the grip of drought. Some areas have not had proper rain for a good seven or eight years. One grazier from Charleville, Scott Sargood, has said:

Mulga tree is like our insurance policy—they eat the grass, they eat the younger mulga, and if it still hasn't rained you push the mulga over so they can reach it …

As a result of these laws, Scott is being quoted $10,000 just to apply for a development application to be able to thin the mulga to respond to drought. The Queensland parliament is passing laws that require farmers to spend $10,000 while they are in drought to respond to that drought. That is why Queensland farmers are as one against these laws. That is why, at beef week this week in Rockhampton, the farming sector will unite against these laws and against the Queensland government that is no longer listening to producers; it's listening to protesters.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator O'Sullivan, a supplementary question.

Barry O'Sullivan (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the minister aware of what farmers are saying about their own personal experiences and the impact that these laws are having on them?

Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Minister for Resources and Northern Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You would think that for laws that impact on almost all of Queensland—as Senator O'Sullivan outlined in his earlier question, at least 84 per cent of Queensland is affected by this—the Queensland government would actually talk to and listen to those people who manage that part of the state. Many farmers have provided evidence that these laws will strip enormous amounts of wealth and prosperity from them without a cent or a dollar of compensation. It's a property right taken from them without any compensation from the Queensland government.

Cattle farmers Blair and Josie Angus from Moranbah in Central Queensland say they will have $3.3 million wiped off their balance sheet. As Blair said: 'The last surviving manufacturing industry is food manufacturing. If these laws continue, it's goodbye grass-fed beef.' The Anguses want to build a meatworks in Moranbah and that'll be put at risk by these laws. Beef and crop farmer Peter Thompson makes the point these laws:

… will lead to erosion because we won't be able to manage scrub.

The laws won't even necessarily meet their objective because they don't have any understanding of how to manage the land. It's why farmers are against these laws, and it's why people who support farmers should be against them too. (Time expired)

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator O'Sullivan, a final supplementary question.

Barry O'Sullivan (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Minister, are there any external factors influencing these harsh new laws?

Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Minister for Resources and Northern Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I think it is instructive to get to the bottom of the origin and genesis of these laws.

Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, it's called an election. That's where it's from!

Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Minister for Resources and Northern Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, it is from the election. I'll take that interjection, because it is from the election. In fact, these laws were announced on a weekend just before how-to-vote cards were finalised in the Queensland election. It could be just a coincidence or it could be, as Senator Watt has just revealed, that it was all about the election. It was not about the environment, and it was not about protecting the Great Barrier Reef; it was about the election. We just heard it from Senator Watt himself. It was all about the election. It was all about getting preferences from the Greens, not about protecting the environment, not about protecting the Great Barrier Reef and certainly not about supporting Queensland farmers. Queenslanders do still want to support their farming sector. They want to see it to grow. They're proud of their beef sector. They're proud of beef week this week, which is getting people from all over the world involved. For the Labor Party, it's a long time since that tree at Barcaldine, and it's a long time since the 1890s—they've left them in the dark. (Time expired)