Farmers take their responsibility to the environment and especially the Great Barrier Reef seriously.

They are engaged with a multitude of programs to drive farm practice improvement and innovation to deliver improved water quality and sustainable businesses.

A Bill currently before the Queensland Parliament dismisses this commitment and puts farmers at risk of bureaucratic intrusion into their everyday business decisions for no guarantee of water quality benefits.

What’s wrong with the Environmental Protection (Great Barrier Reef Protection Measures) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill?

1. The Bill is not needed

Producers of sugarcane, cattle, sheep, grains, cotton and fruit and vegetables in the Reef catchment areas have made enormous improvements to the way they farm over the past 20 years..

Across agriculture, participation in voluntary best management practice programs specific to each farm product is growing. More than half of Queensland’s cattle producers are involved and 70 per cent of Queensland’s cane land has been benchmarked. Accredited farmers are meeting the market’s increasing demand for sustainable food and fibre.

2. The Bill will give government the power to shift the goal posts again and again

The Bill provides the Department of Environment and Science’s chief executive with the power to change minimum farming standards in any way at any time with no regard for the impacts on farmers or their communities. There is no mechanism to review or appeal any changes and no requirement that they be evidence-based.

3. The Bill is a grab for private business data

Farm advisors and chemical and fertiliser resellers will be required to keep and hand over to government on request records of any advice, products or services they’ve supplied to farmers.

By signing the petition, you will send a clear message to the members of the Queensland Parliament that they should reject this Bill. The way forward for agriculture and the Reef is through cooperation and engagement, building on world-leading best practice management programs which are already underway.