THE Palaszczuk government has been accused of hypocrisy after engaging farm group AgForce to oversee an independent study assessing the impacts of military training area expansions on the beef supply chain.
Agriculture Minister Bill Byrne launched the study today saying it was outrageous the federal government would plan to seize highly productive grazing land without considering the potential impacts of compulsory acquisitions on local economies and the beef supply chain.
Under the Defence proposal, about 60 North and Central Queensland families are set to lose their farmland to enable Singaporean soldiers to train more often in Australia.
“It is now clear that federal Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce has run up the white flag and that Defence Minister Marise Payne is prepared to wreck lives and damage agricultural industries without bothering with independent expert advice,” Mr Byrne said.
“The Turnbull Government is ignoring its own heartland and has turned its back on due process.
“But if they won’t commission an independent study, we will.”
However, opposition natural resources spokesman Andrew Cripps said the study was gross hypocrisy with the Palaszczuk government already seizing massive areas of productive cattle country in Queensland for national parks, threatening to introduce punitive vegetation management laws, and banning the development of high value agriculture in Queensland.
“In none of these examples of the did the Palaszczuk government at any stage consider the potential impacts on local economies and the beef supply chain,” Mr Cripps said.
“In fact, the only consideration was securing the inner city green vote, regardless of the massive impacts on the productive capacity of agriculture.
“In launching this study into Defence land acquisitions, Bill Byrne is now morally obliged to conduct independent studies of the Palaszczuk government’s own anti-farmer policies..
“But don’t hold your breath. Bill Byrne has consistently acted against the interests of Queensland farmers. Today’s announcement is simply outrageous political opportunism.”
Funding has been allocated by the Palaszczuk government to investigate the impacts of the loss of an estimated 100,000 head of cattle on the meat processing and live export sectors and the broader economic impacts on nearby communities.
“It is appropriate that an external body with expertise in cattle and beef industry economic sustainability and the capacity to analyse logistics, transport, processing and employment issues should be commissioned to undertake that assessment,” Mr Byrne said.
“I am confident that AgForce has the capability to provide an expert assessment quickly. There is no time to lose because the federal government has clearly made up its mind.”
AgForce president Grant Maudsley said the Defence study was about gathering data on the impact of reducing the amount of productive land available to the cattle industry.
However, given the impacts of the Palaszczuk government’s policies, a wider supply chain study was also warranted, he said.
“We need to get more information beef supply chain including land management and issues like ground cover so we can dispel some of the misinformation,” Mr Maudsley said.