20th November 2006The Queensland Government has been accused of bungling the administration of vegetation management laws with new figures showing more than 1300 landholders are waiting up to two and a half years for property maps.
Coalition questioning in State Parliament has revealed 2768 landholders have forked out $795,950 for Property Maps of Assessable Vegetation since 2003/04, but only 1430 maps have been issued by the State Government to date.
Some landholders have been waiting since July 2004 for property maps showing which part of their land they can and cannot clear.
Nationals natural resources spokesman, Ray Hopper, says said the Beattie Government’s 2005 Budget pledge to accelerate vegetation management processes had been exposed as a false.
“Labor’s vegetation management laws have shut down future development opportunities for landholders, and the Government’s failure to issue property maps is only making it harder for landholders to manage regrowth and creating more uncertainty,” he said.
“This property maps debacle comes hot on the heels of the mulga harvesting saga, which has left landholders with a choice of breaking the law to provide fodder for drought-stricken stock or letting their animals die while they wait for a permit.”
SOURCE: Queensland Country Life weekly rural newspaper, providing daily updates on FarmOnline.
