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

I thank Senator Hanson for the question. Unfortunately, Senator Hanson is wrong in her question. It is correct that, in the EPBC reforms we passed last year, we did remove an exemption that had applied under the previous legislation, which simply means now that farmers who wish to clear their land—in particular, regrowth vegetation that's been there for 15 years or more—will simply have to comply with the same rules as those who are seeking to build wind farms, solar farms or even coal mines, which I know is something that Senator Hanson says she's a fan of as well. What we've done is simply level the playing field by saying that the agriculture sector must follow the same rules as every other sector.