Council, farmers raise concerns about changes to stock route management
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Rural lobby group Agforce has raised concerns about the Queensland Government's proposed changes to the way stock routes are managed.
This week the State Government introduced the Stock Route Network Management Bill to Parliament which, if passed, would see management of Queensland's 2.6 million hectare stock route network handed back to local councils.
The stock route network covers 72,000 kilometres of roads, routes and reserves over 2.6 million hectares, across 44 local government areas in Queensland.
The network provides short-term feed for travelling stock in times of drought.
Natural Resources Minister Anthony Lynham told Parliament the network would continue to do that under the proposed changes.
Under the bill, councils would be granted greater autonomy to manage stock routes in their area, and they would retain 100 per cent of fees raised through the use of the network.
Mr Lynham said the legislation came after almost a decade of negotiation.
"Local government's role is to sustainably manage the network and that will be strengthened under this bill," he told Parliament.
"Local government will retain their role as day to day managers of the network and [will be] given greater capacity to make informed decisions based on local knowledge."
Mr Lynham said the legislation also reduced the number of classes of stock routes from four to two, and identified who got priority in terms of allocation of use.
Concerns about management of stock routes
But Agforce has raised concerns about the reform and called for more oversight and accountability of stock route management.
Cattle board member Peter Hall said while reform of stock route management was long overdue, the new bill missed the mark.
"We are not supportive of the bill simply because we do not believe there's going to be enough oversight in this whole process to ensure the local governments manage the stock route network effectively, and develop [it] into a long-term viable system," Mr Hall said.
"Local governments will have full control of managing the stock route network, and then the next port of call if anyone has any issues will be the minister.
"We believe there should be an intermediary in there.
"The original proposal talks about having … stock route supervisors in place to ensure that everything was being managed effectively, and it doesn't look like they're going to be around."
Management plan to ensure consistency
But Mr Lynham said there would be oversight in the form of a state management plan, which he said would ensure the routes were managed consistently and effectively throughout the state.
"Under the bill, there will be a single state management plan, making it clear for local governments what management outcomes are required for the network," Mr Lynham said.
"The state management plan will also suggest ways for local government to achieve the management outcomes, [but] local governments will have the flexibility to identify [alternative] ways to achieve the management outcomes to suit their local situation."
Longreach Regional Council supports the bill in principle, but wants more detail to ensure councils will not be left out of pocket.
"I think the intention is there, the goodwill is there, but I think there is quite a bit unknown at this stage," mayor Ed Warren said.
He supported handing the management of stock routes to local government, but questions remained about the finer details.
"The fees that we receive, are they going to be cost-neutral for us to carry out the proper management of these stock routes?" he said.
"At this stage, we haven't seen the finer parts of the bill and the fees and charges in particular, but that's an important thing to know."
The agriculture and environment committee will review the legislation and, if the bill is passed, the new management arrangements will be introduced over a two-year transition period.
Topics: agribusiness, livestock, agricultural-policy, longreach-4730
