Farmers fear reef rules
Canegrowers brace for tough times ahead
DESPITE calls from Townsville’s three state politicians to keep controversial reef regulations for farmers the same for five year, the industry remains worried.
Mundingburra MP Coralee O’rourke, Townsville MP Scott Stewart and Thuringowa MP Aaron Harper want Environment Minister Leeanne Enoch to commit to no changes for at least five years.
However Home Hill farmer and Canegrowers deputy chairman Owen Menkens said this still did not provide enough surety to people working in the industry.
“The director general will have the power to change the rules at any time and the fines are pretty extreme,” he said.
Mr Menkens said the regulations would make it harder for people to farm.
This is not the only problem the sugar cane industry in North Queensland is facing, with the world sugar price having taken a dive in the last three years.
“The world price is not good due to subsidised sugar from India being dumped on the market,” Mr Menkens said.
“It’s tough times to get hit by more regulations.”
The new laws will increase fines for breaching environTHE Townsville Fire and James Cook University have hit another slam dunk with their championship-winning partnership, extending the sponsorship deal for three more years.
JCU has been the Fire’s naming rights sponsor since the 2013/2014 season, encompassing the club’s three WNBL championships, and the new deal will see that continue until at least 2021/2022.
The university has played a key role in the Fire’s mental standards from a previous maximum penalty of $13,000 to as high as $217,365.
It will give unprecedented oversight into farming practices, including auditing records of fertiliser production to supply and use, something Mr Menkens was also concerned about. LNP environment spokesman David Crisafulli slammed the proposed laws.
“They have missed the point of what makes people most aggrieved by the legislation,” he said.
“The biggest flaw is it hands power from the elected parliament to the bureaucracy.”
Mr Crisafulli said under the planned laws the environment department would be able to change regulations without it being approved by the parliament.
“It means emergence as a women’s basketball powerhouse as players use the sporting facilities for training while also having the opportunity to study at JCU.
Fire chairwoman Michelle Morton said the partnership allowed the WNBL club to do great things on and off the court.
“We are all about providing healthy, strong female role models and we want to be able to have the whole package,” she said. that somebody who is not accountable to Queenslanders is able to dictate the way that people farm,” he said. “The nub of the issue is we don’t know what the impact will be because the legislation just hands over the power of the regulations to someone else.”
Mr Harper said once the laws passed he wanted no changes to the reef regulations for five years. “The intent of the bill is to strike a balance between the farming sector and the reef,” he said.
“We do want to be able to have training and opportunities for our athletes outside of basketball.”
JCU vice-chancellor professor Sandra Harding said that the Fire were wonderful ambassadors for the region.
“We want to continue to support girls in our region to aspire to be elite athletes, and for us it’s great for our students who have opportunities through the Fire as well,” she said.