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Other Parliamentary SpeechesThis page is dedicated to Peter's speeches during parliament that do not fall under Questions or Questions without notice. They range from debating legislation, reporting on events or issues in his seat of Southport and his Ministerial Statements.
Vegetation Management and Other Legislation Amendment Bill |
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| Posted by Administrator (admin) on Apr 20 2004 |
| Other Speeches >> |
Mr LAWLOR (Southport-ALP) (8.21 p.m.): It gives me great pleasure to support the Vegetation Management and Other Legislation Amendment Bill. This bill is the result of a commitment by the Premier in the last election campaign, announcing the end to broadscale tree clearing in Queensland. This will mean that the bulldozers that currently clear the equivalent of 1,200 football fields a day will be stopped and mothballed forever. Over 20 million hectares will be saved for ours and future generations. The decision was described by the Wilderness Society, Australian Conservation Foundation, Worldwide Fund for Nature and Queensland Conservation Council as the most significant decision for the environment in Queensland's history.
The Queensland government has been in negotiation with the Commonwealth government regarding the regulation of land clearing in Queensland since 1999. Despite the lack of support from the Commonwealth, the Queensland government has continued to take action to address the rate of land clearing in Queensland through the introduction of regulatory controls. In early 2003 the Commonwealth government did agree to the introduction of a moratorium on further tree clearing applications in order to negotiate with stakeholders over a proposal to phase out all broadscale clearing of remnant vegetation and to protect of concern regional ecosystems.
These changes to the existing regulatory framework were to be undertaken in conjunction with the provision of a $150 million joint financial assistance package. With no response from the Commonwealth by early 2004, the implementation of the package to phase out broadscale clearing of remnant vegetation became a key election commitment in the February 2004 campaign. As part of that commitment the Premier indicated that Queensland would fund the entire package of $150 million if the Commonwealth was not prepared to participate in the proposal. The election commitment also stated that the legislation required for the implementation of the package would be the first bill introduced into the new parliament in March 2004, and the Premier has honoured that commitment.
The Vegetation Management and Other Legislation Amendment Bill will give effect to the government's election commitment concerning vegetation clearing. The purpose of the bill is to phase out broadscale clearing of remnant vegetation under a transitional clearing cap by December 2006 and to protect of concern regional ecosystems whilst, of course, allowing clearing for necessary ongoing purposes and management activities.
The financial assistance package will provide $130 million of structural adjustment, $12 million for incentives and $8 million for best management practices. The funding arrangements are not included in the legislation.
It was interesting to hear the member for Robina earlier mention the inadequate funding that apparently concerned him. He mentioned that if we were not going to wait for Canberra to assist with the funding then we should accept the total amount of the cost of this program, which he suggested would be more than $150 million. The simple fact of the matter is that if we were going to wait for Canberra this would never have happened. In fact, to see Canberra's attitude to this legislation you would have to line it up with a post to see if it was even moving. It has been absolutely glacier-like in its attitude to this particular legislation. I commend the legislation to the House. Last changed: [PUBLISHED_DATE] at 12:00 AM
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