THE controversial Shooters and Fishers Party’s native vegetation amendment bill may have been crushed in the Senate, but the state government intends to repeal the divisive laws, member for Tamworth Kevin Anderson has said.
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Mr Anderson said he shared the frustration of farmers and landholders over the laws, but that an “enormous amount of work” had been going on “behind the scenes” to reform the legislation.
“Native vegetation laws are a terrible burden on farmers,” Mr Anderson said.
“The repeal of the Native Vegetation Act will occur.
“We expect to see that before the end of the year.”
The suggestion of a repeal comes months after federal member for New England Barnaby Joyce called on the state government to repeal the laws, in the wake of the tragic shooting death of environmental officer Glen Turner.
Mr Turner was allegedly killed in Croppa Creek over a land-clearing dispute.
In a submission to the Biodiversity Review Panel, the Turner family said the immediate reaction to Mr Turner’s death by certain politicians “exhibited a degree of vitriol and contempt for existing law” and “their comments were highly inappropriate, inexcusable and the source of great hurt”.
Mr Anderson described the existing legislation as “a tangled mess” and said although the government had not yet been in a position of control to reform the law, it was on the cusp of change.
“Ultimately we’ll get it right, but we’ll have to do it properly,” he said.
Mr Anderson said he understood the angst of NSW Farmers in relation to repeated delays over the legislation, but defended the Nationals’ decision to vote down the Shooters and Fishers’ native vegetation amendment bill in the upper house on Tuesday night.
He said the Shooters and Fishers’ bill was an inadequate solution and claimed it would have been detrimental to farmers.
“The problem is that the Shooters and Fishers also recommended penalties be wound back for broadscale clearing. I totally disagree with that,” he said.
Nationals member for Northern Tablelands Adam Marshall said he felt an opportunity was lost by the upper house in voting down the bill.
Mr Marshall said it would be “difficult” to repeal the law, because it was deeply embedded in other legislation, and he had not heard from NSW Nationals leader Troy Grant about whether there were plans to repeal the act.
