CANEGROWERS have assured their members that their on farm data will remain safe under proposed reef regulation changes in Queensland.
It comes after AgForce this week took the extraordinary step of deleting a decades worth of on farm data collected from graziers and grain producers who had participated in their BMP program.
AgForce deemed the step necessary as under the Environmental Protection (Great Barrier Reef Protection Measures) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2019, the state government would have the power to request data from the agricultural sector, to determine where minimum standards are not being met.
Canegrowers CEO Dan Galligan said he appreciated AgForce's concerns, but said the same measures would not be required to protect Smartcane BMP participants as the data collation differed.
"We don't gather individual farm practice data, information about accredited farms and that data stays on the farm," Mr Galligan said.
"However, it does point to the concern we've been raising all along about the power this bill does give to get information from advisory firms, fertiliser companies and sugar mills."
Mr Galligan raised his concerns about third parties in his submission to the committee charged with reviewing the bill.
"The bill provides government with unrestrained power to demand and use all data related to the use of fertilisers and agricultural chemicals, from across the farming supply chain, with no checks on confidentiality, use of the data, or its interpretation," Mr Galligan wrote.
"(This) will require any person or entity involved in the supply chain for fertiliser, chemicals or the production of raw sugar to keep records that may relate to fertiliser and chemical use on crops and report these to government.
"This represents an intrusive and unbounded grab for data on the basis that it will help the Queensland Government make decisions about future regulations and intervention programs. In particular, the bill makes no provision for how the government will guarantee the confidentiality of the data provided, ongoing data quality and integrity, or the responsible use and analysis of the data."
Mr Galligan said AgForce's concerns about BMP data was based on the same premise or being intrusive and breaching confidentiality.
"AgForce is right to point of that if they've got that type of data, how do they protect it if the government wants it?
"They've got to make that decision and we understand why they have taken that decision, if the only way to protect the data is by getting rid of it. Privacy is paramount to all programs which is why we've taken a different attitude."
It comes after the committee charged with reviewing the bill last week recommended it be passed, with no amendments.
This is despite agricultural industry groups and farmers raising a raft of concerns about the bill at public hearings held in Brisbane, Cairns, Townsville, Mackay and Bundaberg earlier this month.
A total of 238 public submissions were also handed up during the short consultation period.
