SCL legislation must protect our ag soils

THE Queensland Farmers’ Federation has welcomed the introduction of Strategic Cropping Land (SCL) legislation to the Queensland Parliament.

“This represents an historic moment in Queensland when we finally see some legal basis for the protection of our finite soil resources,” QFF CEO Dan Galligan said. “It is a moment that all farmers should welcome as being long over-due, but it is a strong policy signal that there is broad community support for the future of their industry.”

Mr Galligan said that farmers had been waiting to see SCL legislation –known as the Strategic Cropping Land Bill 2011 – since February 2010, and it had been a long and comprehensive negotiating process to reach this point.

“Farmers, the government, and the mining industry have put in mountains of hard work aiming to strike the right balance with SCL,” Mr Galligan said. “Today is not the end of that work, but it is an important milestone.”

He said that QFF knows that it was not a day when farmers would have total reassurance that the best quality soils would be completely protected from the resources boom.

“There is still refinement and improvement needed in how the SCL criteria are applied, and we also need to ensure this policy leaves a legacy for the long term. That means it needs to protect not just today’s best food and fibre producing land, but also land that has potential for high value agricultural production.

“QFF is calling on all politicians to support this legislation as an important stepping stone towards at long last recognising and protecting the value of our agricultural lands.”

 

Mr Galligan added that the legislation would not be a circuit-breaker for the mounting distress over the rapid expansion of coal-seam gas. “By and large, this legislation will do very little to stop the development of coal seam gas in our most fertile farming regions like the Darling Downs.

 

“Its greatest protections are around permanently destructive activities, but there are also some exemptions for these projects, particularly those that are already underway.

 

“So, ultimately, it is a positive step in the right direction – but it is certainly not ‘problem solved’.”

 

Mr Galligan said, therefore, it was vital that farmers familiarised themselves with the Bill, which would be available at legislation.qld.gov.au.

 

“There is a huge job ahead getting this right on the ground. Lines on maps are always a policy challenge, and the massive job ahead is about ensuring that across the State, all of our best farming land is preserved now and in the future. It is a finite resource that must be protected for future generations of Queenslanders.”

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