Media Release
Petition to Throw out Proposed Amendments to Vegetation Laws
Property Rights Australia chairman, Dale Stiller, has received considerable support for a petition calling for the Queensland Parliament to throw out proposed amendments to vegetation laws. A number of key individuals and organisations have signed the petition which calls on the Honourable Speaker and Members of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland to withdraw the Vegetation Management (Reinstatement) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2016.
Stiller states that, “Those signing the petition support that there are already substantial environmental protections prescribed in the Vegetation Management Act, 1999 and other legislation in this State. Introducing further onerous provisions will constrain landholders’ abilities to sustainably manage land for the production of food and fibre.”
“This Bill, if passed, will result in and set a precedent for the loss of fundamental legal protections for all Queenslanders with no net gain for the economy, the environment or the community. The Bill will detrimentally and directly affect people, from the land, both indigenous and non-indigenous and rural and regional communities. Such disregard for legal rights, if unchecked, could flow on in future legislation to affect all Queensland citizens and the future of this State’s food security and its economy.”
The petition requests the House to cause the withdrawal of the Vegetation Management (Reinstatement) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2016. Failing that, it asks that the Bill be presented for a vote and that Member of the Legislative Assembly vote against the Bill.
The response in only two business days has seen numbers building, with signed petition forms being emailed and posted for this call by PRA for a sensible outcome in imminent debates about the Vegetation Management laws in Queensland Parliament. “Agricultural advocacy organisations such as AgForce and QFF, Aboriginal organisations, legal firms, consultancy firms, local government regional councils, agribusiness, scientists, legal academics and any many other organisations and professionals are backing us on this”, said Mr Stiller.
These organisations and professionals believe that this decision in Brisbane, will have a negative effect on people from southern inland Queensland to Cape York. “The human cost of the Bill will be enormous, is uncalculated, and largely invisible to an urban population”, said Mr Stiller, “The cost will be borne by farming families, trying to manage land to produce food and land custodians such as indigenous peoples of the Cape, who are being knocked down again having almost reached the cusp of initiating their own economic advancement”.
“Those signing the petition are also frustrated by the lack of honesty in the campaign by those in favour of the amendments”, said Mr Stiller, “The government has been undignified in misrepresenting the data, fabricating emotional alarm, misrepresenting land management systems and denigrating food producers and land custodians.”
PRA had earlier, on the first day of August, sent a detailed open letter to the cross benches which demonstrated through the evaluation of the Reinstatement Bill by a number of criteria showed it to be deeply flawed.
The petitioners point to existing substantial environmental protections, the majority of clearing is the management of regrowth to maintain good grass cover, SLATS data clearly reveals a net increase of tree cover, and importantly the loss of legal protections which the majority of the population would find unacceptable in our democracy; all reasons why the Vegetation Management (Reinstatement) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2016 should be thrown out.
ENDS
(561 words)
Property Rights Australia’s open letter to the cross benches can be found at this link – http://www.propertyrightsaustralia.org/documents/1470139939_2016_aug_1_open_letter_to_cross_benches_reinstatement_bill.pdf
For further information contact:
Dale Stiller
Ph: (07) 4628 2173 Email: dstil@bigpond.com
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