Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Environment and Water) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Canavan might not care about the Great Barrier Reef or the 60,000 jobs in Queensland that rely on the Great Barrier Reef and its tourism industry, but we do. That's why we're saying that, if farmers want to clear within 50 metres of rivers or creeks in the Great Barrier Reef catchment, because the Great Barrier Reef is a nationally protected matter, then they need to go through an EPBC assessment and approval and follow the same rules as every other industry. These changes for land clearing, in some circumstances, and forestry are about levelling the playing field and saying that agriculture and forestry activity should meet the same rules as the mining industry, the renewables industry, the housing industry and every other industry.