Hansard debates

Mrs McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (20:47): My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Agriculture and concerns the state government’s stubborn refusal to countenance any changes to regulations on roadside grazing. I have advocated for roadside grazing since arriving in this place. I did so previously as a councillor in Corangamite shire. It is a commonsense solution, not simply providing free fodder for livestock but reducing fire risk, increasing driver visibility, tidying up the roadside and reducing native fauna roadkill. Most importantly, however, it reduces the fuel load on our roadsides. Now more than ever roads should be a firebreak, not a fire wick. Roadside grazing will improve the long-term safety of our rural communities.

In the short term too we must act. During the drought earlier this summer I advocated relaxing the regulations to allow droving. Now farmers not only need fodder; they face contaminated water. Yet in western Victoria we have abundant roadside vegetation and water. Daniel Meade, mayor of Moyne, estimates that his shire has $1 million worth of fodder going to waste. We must graze the long paddock. In normal times the case is inarguable; at this time of crisis it beggars belief that our government refuses to act.

Today the minister responded to my most recent plea, and you would think it was business as usual. Yet again in the face of this misery the answer is the same: apply for permits in the normal way. And yet again I have to say: the system does not work.

Cr Neil Trotter, mayor of Corangamite, recently noted:

Restrictions on the classification of native vegetation and grasses make—

permits—

… a bureaucratic nightmare.

And:

It has become too hard to negotiate council and government regulation …

As a consequence it is safer … to do nothing.

This is senseless. Native vegetation was burnt and grazed for generations before roads existed. Our Indigenous community have proven that native vegetation benefits from fire and grazing. In any case is the roadside the best place to protect it? What should be safety zones have become conservation zones, not just endangering motorists but creating roadkill corridors.

The minister must urgently reassess her priorities. If this fire season and the starving cattle we now see are not a sufficient wake-up call, what will be? Why should native vegetation take precedence over human life and livestock? I ask the minister to stand up for farmers and livestock and urgently review these ridiculous regulations. It is a win-win solution.