Pauline Hanson (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister for the Environment and Water (Senator Watt) to a question without notice I asked today relating to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.

I want to take note of the answer from Senator Murray Watt with regard to the native vegetation act that the government has actually passed, under the Environment Protection Agency. I'm going to read directly from the National Farmers' Federation because I think they've really summed it all up: 'The deal that they've made has stripped back the longstanding continuous-use exemption for vegetation not cleared in the previous 15 years and for some areas near waterways in Great Barrier Reef catchments.' As I say, this is preventing farmers from clearing the lands that have been left idle for about 15 years, and it's going to cost up to $140,000 for them to get this done. The NFF said:

The NFF opposed these changes. We still do.

Now we are seeing exactly what farmers feared. Activist groups are using these reforms to run sweeping campaigns against agriculture, particularly northern cattle producers. A recent Great Barrier Reef report makes serious claims about land clearing, sediment and grazing, including 856,744 hectares cleared in Reef catchments from 2018 to 2023, 84% for grazing, and more than 4.9 million tonnes of fine sediment each year from the Burdekin and Fitzroy catchments.

The Greens have never felt the need to be factual and they use pictures of koalas to crowd source funds, which is just a little disingenuous.

Farmers are sick of being lectured by people who have never had to make a payroll through drought, rebuild after flood, manage weeds and pests, maintain ground cover, care for stock and keep a business alive.

They are sick of being told they are the problem by campaigners whose answer is always more red tape for regional Australia.

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Farmers reject the idea that protecting the environment means burying them in confusion, threatening compliance action, and outsourcing policy to city-based campaigners. That might make for a tidy Greens press release, but it does not make for good law.

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Farmers should be cautious as the reforms commence. Where there is doubt, they should seek advice. But a system that forces ordinary farming families to pay advisors and consultants just to know whether they can get on with the job has failed.

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Australia needs strong environmental laws—

and I agree.

We also need food and fibre, regional jobs, productive landscapes and farmers who are treated as partners and professional stewards.

The NFF will keep working with Government to get the implementation right, but we will also call out political attacks that use the Reef, koalas or any other much-loved part of our environment as a stick to beat agriculture.

Farmers are doing their part. It is time for Canberra to do its part too: provide clarity, back practical stewardship, and stop letting the loudest voices in the room write the rules for the people who live and work on the land.

This needs to change, and this is the Greens-Labor government shutting down farming in our country with these ridiculous laws. (Time expired)

Question agreed to.