George Christensen (Dawson, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I withdraw, Mr Deputy Speaker, but what has been said here, particularly by the minister and by the member for McEwen, flies in the face of not only the reality of natural resource management but also what the minister's department is approving elsewhere. I will tell a little of what is going on in my electorate at Wongaloo Station. Wongaloo Station has been bought and now is being looked after by a private foundation called the Wetlands and Grasslands Foundation because, basically, it is North Queensland's Kakadu. We have an area there which is second to none for its wetlands—the Cromarty wetlands, the bird life and the wildlife that all comes to that area. The bloke who is pushing for Cromarty wetlands to be established as Wongaloo conservation park is a former state Nationals MP, Mark Stoneman, who is a great practical environmentalist. He is the chairman of the natural resource management group up there, NQ Dry Tropics. As the member for Riverina says, most National Party people are great environmentalists and, again, most farmers are also great practical environmentalists. Mark Stoneman is no different. He has been pushing the establishment of the Wongaloo conservation park for some time. The end result will be management of that property by the Wetlands and Grasslands Foundation as a conservation park. There is currently a lot of research going into this. It has been done with the minister's support when the member for Kingsford-Smith was the Minister for Environment, Heritage and the Arts. Some time ago he went to Townsville, in that region, and gave $1.79 million in federal funding to help purchase the wetlands for the Wetlands and Grasslands Foundation to set this place up as a conservation park. There have been ongoing discussions between the Wetlands and Grasslands Foundation and the federal Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities on this. One of the key principles that they are looking into up there, with the department's support, is the retention of cattle grazing as a control against the intrusion of exotic weeds—in an area aimed at being set up as a conservation park.

Now we have the minister arguing in here against what they want to do in one state—to have cattle grazing to stop noxious weeds and to see what other outcomes that that might achieve—and has been done in that part of the world for many a year, longer than the Labor Party has been in existence, longer than the Greens have been bleating. The people there have a definite heritage in that area. Yet, up in North Queensland, the federal department is facilitating the same outcome to get environmental results.

As I said, a lot of research has gone into the benefits of continuing grazing. The Wetlands and Grasslands Foundation, with the cooperation of the federal environment department, is getting that research and monitoring so that it can be used by other people who want to set up conservation parks around Australia. It is just unbelievable that the minister is here advocating that something should not happen in Victoria while his department is facilitating it in North Queensland. I have been down there to Wongaloo and the Cromarty wetlands and I have seen that the cattle that are grazing in certain areas there have nearly eradicated the noxious weeks, and there are plenty of them—182 different species of weeds in that area which cause real damage to the native flora.

Then I go to the areas inside that wetlands, inside the proposed conservation park, where there is no cattle grazing permitted. Do you know what I see? Feral pigs, everywhere, chewing on the weeds and running rampant. That damages not only native flora but also native fauna. If we look across Queensland's national parks—there are plenty in my area; for instance, Eungella National Park—the management of those national parks is so poor that farmers have to invest in stopping feral pigs, wild dogs and other feral animals from coming into their properties from the national parks. Again, I am just astounded that the minister's department is supporting an approach in North Queensland while in this chamber the minister says that approach is no go in Victoria. Even more disgraceful are these repeated comments, without any proof, that graziers have funded a political party in order to get a specific outcome—that being this trial of cattle grazing in Victorian national parks.

Surely the cattlemen in this country have copped enough from this Gillard Labor government. We went through the live export debacle, which they stuffed up in every way possible—almost bringing the entire North Queensland cattle industry to its knees. Now we have a carbon tax which will increase input costs for farmers everywhere around Australia, including for the Victorian graziers. On top of that, the carbon tax will drive costs for abattoirs higher, so the abattoirs will seek to reduce the number of cattle which go through in order to get their carbon emissions down. That is going to have an impact on graziers as well. Now here is another hit.

What is it all about? I can tell you what it is about: it is about the Greens. It is about the fact that this government has a written alliance with the Greens. They are dancing to the tune of the Greens once again. We have seen it up in North Queensland. Pressure was put on the state government to introduce reef regulations which impact on cane farmers. They have to complete a bunch of paperwork, test which way the wind is blowing and obtain information that even the Bureau of Meteorology would probably not have before they are able to use fertiliser and herbicide on their farms. The federal government is now pushing to lock up fishing waters in North Queensland. Commercial and recreational fishing will both suffer. This Labor government is again dancing to the tune of the Greens.

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