• Labor’s supposed vegetation management consultation deceptive

• Palaszczuk Labor Government’s aggressive bill to spread indigenous social and economic disadvantage across Cape York

• Cape York landholders to suffer under ‘flawed’ legislation

The LNP has condemned Labor’s vegetation management consultation with Cape York Mayors and indigenous landholders as contrived and disingenuous, designed to try and convince Cook MP Billy Gordon to support its ‘flawed’ bill.

Shadow Natural Resources and Northern Development Minister Andrew Cripps said Deputy Premier Jackie Trad and Environment Minister Steven Miles’ rushed trip to Cairns was a desperate attempt to head off a full scale revolt by stakeholders on Cape York.

“The Palaszczuk Labor Government is supposed to be all about consultation, so shouldn’t these discussions have occurred before Labor caved into the green groups and introduced its punitive bill into the Queensland Parliament?” Mr Cripps said.

“This meeting has been thrown together in great haste because landowners, indigenous groups and local council representatives on Cape York all agree that Labor’s proposed changes to Queensland’s vegetation management laws are bad for their local communities.

“The Cape York Land Council has already described the bill as ‘flawed’ and asserted that it will impose unfair and unreasonable constraints on development that will perpetuate indigenous social and economic disadvantage across Cape York.

“AgForce’s recent tour of Cape York found both indigenous and non-indigenous cattle producers were angry and frustrated by Labor’s failure to understand the need for landholders to be able to effectively manage the native vegetation on their properties.”

Mr Cripps said the Palaszczuk Labor Government needed to realise regional Queenslanders would not accept their future economic development opportunities being curtailed or their property rights stripped away just so Labor could do preference deals with the extreme greens.

“Deputy Premier Jackie Trad and Environment Minister Steven Miles are in Cairns to try and woo Billy Gordon to vote for this unfair bill, that is not in the best interests of the people or local communities of Far North Queensland and Cape York,” he said.

“If Billy Gordon supports Labor’s proposed changes to the Vegetation Management Act, it will be a callous betrayal of the people he is supposed to represent and confirm him as a mere instrument of the Palaszczuk Labor Government in Brisbane.”

Mr Cripps said the LNP would defend the common sense changes it made to Queensland’s vegetation management framework in 2013 and vigorously oppose the Palaszczuk Labor Government’s proposed amendments to the Act.