Media Releases - 09 September 2024
VMA to stay as is, says opposition leader Crisafulli, but loopholes still need to be closed, says Wilderness Society
Last week, Queensland Opposition Leader David Crisafulli spoke at the Rural Press Club.
Crisafulli announced that, if elected, the LNP wouldn’t be changing vegetation management in that state. He said: “I am not going back to the days of the pendulum going to and fro on government changes. It sends uncertainty.”
This commitment to certainty is welcome. However the Vegetation Management Act does need changing, to close loopholes that mean hundreds of thousands of Queensland’s forests and bushland are still bulldozed every year, the bulk of it for grazing.
The Wilderness Society says: “At a time when international markets, financiers and beef retailers are signalling a shift away from practices that rely on the continued destruction of nature, all parties contesting the upcoming state election should be supporting Queensland’s regional communities to meet sustainability challenges and demands.
“Queensland can go deforestation-free. A minority of beef producers are having the largest impact, and making Australia a globally recognised deforestation hotspot.
“From Brigalow country to the Ironbark woodlands of the Einasleigh, Queensland’s forests and bushland are globally unique and need to be respected.
“It’s critical that species like the koala to the cassowary are taken off the fast track to extinction. Closing loopholes in Queensland’s Vegetation Management Act would help with this.”
Authorised by Amelia Young, The Wilderness Society, 132 Davey St, Hobart TAS 7000.
For more information, please contact Rhiannon Cunningham, media adviser for the Wilderness Society on [email protected] or 0419 992 760