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Category: Rural / Regulation / Business, Economics and Finance / Animal Welfare / Agribusiness

Slash red tape to help farmers, Productivity Commission says

Thursday, 21 Jul 2016 02:36:21 | Lucy Barbour

Land clearing tension show reform is needed, the Productivity Commission says (ABC News: Marty McCarthy)

Red tape surrounding native vegetation, animal welfare and foreign investment should be reduced to make it easier for farmers to do business, according to the Productivity Commission.

Key points:

  • Productivity Commission's Paul Lindwall says some land clearing was too prohibitive
  • The Commission recommends a register of foreign-owned farmland be made public
  • Farmer pushes for streamlined land clearing, animal welfare regulations

The commission's draft report on regulation in agriculture, released today, recommends everything from allowing heavy vehicles more access to public roads, to scrapping bans on growing genetically modified crops.

Commissioner Paul Lindwall said controversial issues such as preventing farmers from clearing native vegetation on their properties have highlighted a need to get the balance right between environmental and economic results.

He said in many cases, the current situation was too prohibitive.

"For example, $1 of environmental harm is not acceptable even if it produced $1 million of economic benefit," Mr Lindwall said.

"Even though that could've been reinvested to improve the economic benefit elsewhere."

States and territories are also in charge of policing animal welfare, and the Commission has recommended that an independent body be set up to establish mandatory national guidelines.

"It is to prevent the type of excessive reaction to individual events that you often observe when something happens, to provide a credible framework people can understand and be satisfied that it is improving welfare," Mr Lindwall said.

"People have to consider the alternative to [banning live animal exports] is that perhaps much worse practices from other countries would be exported to the countries that we're currently exporting to, so it might actually be a detrimental to animal welfare."

Farmers push to reduce hurdles to clearing

The Commission also recommended a register of foreign-owned farmland be made public, and the Government raise the threshold for scrutiny of foreign investment in Australian farmland and agribusiness.

Last year, the Coalition tightened foreign investment restrictions considerably, after pressure from the National Party and some rural Liberal MPs.

The Commission sees that as detrimental to farmers' interests.

"If you are a farmer and you have got your superannuation effectively is tied up in that farm and you cannot sell it off when you need to retire because we don't allow foreign investment because it has become restrictive, then you have actually harmed that farmer," Mr Lindwall said.

Dan Cooper, a grain grower from New South Wales, is particularly concerned about laws that prevent farmers from clearing native vegetation.

"In the Moree Shire, where it's extremely contentious, around $27 million to $84 million over four years that it is costing that district in opportunity cost and direct costs through not being able to use bigger machinery, the weed incursions that come from those trees," Mr Cooper said.

He also said creating an independent animal welfare body at a national level may cause more red tape rather than less.

"We can obviously do more but putting bureaucrats in place is not going to achieve that," Mr Cooper said.

"I think we just need to work with the industry on continuing to lift those standards, have a presence overseas so globally we can lift animal welfare standards."

AustraliaPlus


 

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