LANDHOLDERS appear to have been granted a temporary stay of execution from the Palaszczuk Government’s controversial Nature Conservation and Other Legislation Amendment Bill (NCOLA) which was expected to presented to Parliament this week.
Labor is unlikely to table the anti-farmer legislation while ever independent Member for Cook, Billy Gordon, is out of action. Mr Gordon suffered a minor heart attack over the weekend and is unlikely to return to Parliament before at least next week.
His absense has exposed the fragility of the Queensland Parliament. As it stands the LNP Opposition and the Katter Party have a majority of 44 votes in Parliament compared to Labor’s 43 votes. Labor is relying on Mr Gordon’s vote to pass the controversial legislation. Independent Speaker Peter Wellington would use his casting vote to break a deadlock.
The simplest way for the Palaszczuk Government to avoid embarassment on the floor of Parliament is to withhold controversial legislation.
In future weeks the Palaszczuk Government will also be seeking Mr Gordon’s support on amendments to the Vegetation Management Act which will strip away common sense reforms made by the previous LNP government.
Property Rights Australia chairman Dale Stiller made a direct appeal to the Katter Party and Mr Gordon not to support the NCOLA Bill.
“These laws include kicking people off long held grazing lease areas that were without assessment indiscriminately made into national parks,” Mr Stiller said.
“If passed, this Bill will cause significant disadvantage because of the historical context the government hasn’t stopped to, or doesn’t care to consider.
“The Bill will certainly not deliver any improved conservation outcomes. What it will do is disadvantage the very people who have been the custodians of the this land and their local economies.”
Mr Stiller said many of the leases which had been redescribed as national parks were previously forestry areas and have been used for grazing century often for more than a century.
“The reality is they have been converted to national parks in name only,” Mr Stiller said.
“No credit or thought has been given to the stewardship of these areas by landholders who have managed this land and in doing so preserved the very conservation values the Palaszczuk Government claims it wants to protect.”
Mr Stiller said the government had been repeatedly warned that its ‘lock-up and leave’ attitude would cause a multitude of land management problems including weeds, feral pests, and dangerously high fire fuel loads.
