Labor-Greens EPBC deal a direct attack on Queensland jobs

• The Federal Government's Labor-Greens deal threatens thousands of Queensland jobs in resources, agriculture and forestry industries. 
• The Crisafulli Government will fight to protect the jobs of Queenslanders.

The Labor-Greens job destroying deal that passed in the Federal Parliament last week is a direct attack on the thousands of Queenslanders who grow our food and work in Queensland's resources, forestry, agriculture industries and regional communities. 

This is Federal Government overreach given Queensland's primary producers and resources sector already operate under world-leading environmental regulations. 

Last week’s Labor-Greens deal ties up family farms in red tape, removes streamlining for coal and gas projects needed to put downward pressure on energy prices, imposes tighter restrictions on landholders and introduces new Commonwealth powers to override Queensland’s already stringent approvals.

The changes will also pose serious safety risks to producers and communities in regional Queensland through:

• Increased bushfire risks to life and property due to inability to reduce fuel loads and create firebreaks.
• Increased risk to infrastructure such as bridges due to increased debris during flood events.
• Increased risk to communities in the water catchment areas that have schools and hospitals close to watercourses.
• Increased risk of biosecurity impacts through lack of management of invasive weeds and pests.

No other state has been singled out like Queensland under this legislation, and by colluding with the Greens in the Senate, the Albanese Government has told Queenslanders their contribution to national food security, their export industries and jobs don’t matter.

Unlike Labor, the Crisafulli Government is on the side of Queenslanders, which is why we’re streamlining approvals, giving the resources industry certainty and delivering a Future Timber Plan after Labor’s decade of decline sent investment off a cliff.

Minister for Primary Industries Tony Perrett said these changes mean family farms that have been operating for generations will be forced to go through the same bureaucratic processes as mining companies.  

“The Labor-Greens deal is an insult to Queensland’s farmers and forestry workers which overrides local knowledge, ignores decades of land stewardship and creates new federal powers to interfere in property rights," Minister Perrett said. 

“This deal completely ignores the realities of farming and imposes more red tape for people who are already doing the right thing.

“This Labor-Greens legislation puts more uncertainty over land use, forestry operations, and vegetation management, without any real consultation.”

Minister for Natural Resources and Mines Dale Last said Queenslanders wouldn't forget that Labor sacrificed Queensland jobs as a bargaining chip for the Greens.

“The Labor-Greens deal specifically punishes the sectors that underpin Queensland’s economy and strips Queensland of its ability to manage our own future, risking jobs and economic uncertainty across our regions,” Minister Last said.

“The Greens don’t understand agriculture or mining, and Labor is too weak to say no to them - and regional Queenslanders have been left to pay the price."

ENDS

MEDIA CONTACT:

Minister Last - William Rollo, 0434 650 650

Minister Perrett - Nicole Bond, 0417 199 369

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• The Commonwealth Environment Protection Reform Bill 2025 passed in Federal Parliament last week, after the Federal Labor Government accepted wide-reaching amendments from The Greens.

• The amendments place onerous conditions on landholders managing regrowth on their properties, including removing the ‘continuing use’ exemption for vegetation more than 15 years’ old which means landholders with Category X vegetation areas on their property will be required to apply for assessment and approval under the EPBC Act.

• The Greens amendments supported by Labor create longer and more complex approval processes for coal, gas and forestry projects, which will result in approval delays and job uncertainty