BY JIM MCILROY
BRISBANE — On November 27, 200 people marched through city streets demanding an end to uncontrolled land clearing in Queensland. The marchers rallied outside the state parliament on the last day of sitting for the year.
At the rally, the protesters heard Dr Jim Traill, from the Wilderness Society, and Felicity Wishart, from the Queensland Conservation Council, outline the case to end the broad-scale land clearing which is threatening native wildlife, causing salinity on farmland and in rivers, and increasing greenhouse gases.
During the rally, Labor Premier Peter Beattie appeared to announce to the crowd that his government would "go it alone, if necessary", on funding compensation for farmers under the proposed joint federal-state land-clearing reform package announced in May.
An indefinite moratorium on new land-clearing applications was introduced by the Queensland government in May, to prevent a repeat of 1999 when farmers began panic clearing. However, the Wilderness Society points out that it has not been effective in preventing continued mass clearing of land in Queensland over the past six months.
The federal government has been stalling on implementation of the package, under pressure from farm lobby groups and the Queensland National Party. Beattie said the state Labor government was "fast running out of patience" with the federal Coalition government's stalling tactics.
To applause from the protesters, Beattie said that if the federal government fails to respond within three months, the Queensland government would push ahead with its $75 million package to compensate farmers for the proposed ban on all broad-scale clearing of remnant vegetation by 2006.
"Whether landholders receive the remaining $75 million is up to the federal government", Beattie said.
Protest organisers welcomed Beattie's stand, but pointed out that remaining weaknesses in the package include the lack of controls on urban landclearing.
From Green Left Weekly, December 3, 2003.
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