Weekly Bulletin

The Weekly Bulletin is now published each Monday.

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01 Mar 2010 WEEKLY BULLETIN March 1, 2010

GOVERNMENT DELAYS LAND VALUATIONS LEGISLATION – COMMON SENSE
The State Government has agreed to postpone Parliamentary debate on the controversial changes to land valuation laws. The amendments were tabled in Parliament on the 11th of February and given there was little to no consultation in the lead up, many affected industries have been trying to come to grips with the extent of the changes proposed and the potential impacts on the valuations process. Information received by QFF from legal and valuation firms servicing rural areas, indicates that the proposed changes to the legislation will affect rural land holders that pay rates, land tax or rent on rural land. In particular, there is a concern that the value of all improvements could now be included in valuations due to the way in which the legislation is drafted. This could result in long established irrigation and other heavily improved properties being subject to unacceptable increases in unimproved valuations. Perhaps of even greater concern, the advice QFF has received also questions the revised requirements for the objection process.
Amidst this wide spread confusion and heavy campaigning, it has been a common sense decision by Minister Robertson to delay the passage of the bill. The Minister has already stated that the Government does not believe the impacts being claimed can be justified and that the land tax changes will not have any impact on primary producers.

FURTHER BRIEFINGS ON COAL SEAM GAS WATER
QFF attended a briefing by Santos provided to a Society of Petroleum Engineers function in recent weeks. The session outlined the Company’s planning for the management of coal seam gas water from their proposed projects over an extensive area near Roma. It was interesting that Santos is seeking a close engagement with dryland farmers regarding the critical issues of the potential impact of the project on groundwater and the use of the substantial coal seam gas water to enhance existing farming activities. Santos advise that they have indentified areas where there are likely to be impacts on groundwater but the company is of the view that these impacts can be managed. QFF is of the view that it appears that planning is in hand to monitor groundwater impacts on a continuing basis and make this information available to farmers. The Company reported that it is assigning a priority to making coal seam gas water available to enhance existing grazing activities in and adjacent to project developments as well as for eucalypt plantation development. Trial irrigation projects have been established but the Company has indicated it recognises that a lot of further work is required to make effective use of treated coal seam gas water for grazing.

WATER BUYBACK IN THE QLD MURRAY DARLING CATCHMENTS
The Commonwealth Department of Environment Water Heritage and the Arts has updated their website as at 31 January and advise that there has been a further 1,507 megalitres purchased in the Queensland Border Rivers for a slight fall in the average price paid from $2,300 to $2,276. A total of 6,832 megalitres have been purchased in the Border Rivers catchments made up of 6,625 megalitres from the Border Rivers Water Supply Scheme and 207 megalitres from the Macintyre Brook Water Supply Scheme. Over 772,000 megalitres have now been purchased across the Basin. There are no purchases to date in any other parts of the Qld Murray Darling catchments. To see the full table go to: http://www.environment.gov.au/water/policy-programs/entitlement-purchasing/2008-09.html  
Both National Farmers Federation and National Irrigators Council have gone to press this week complaining about the lack of balance in the roll out of the buy back and on-farm water use efficiency programs. The buyback program is programmed to spend 82% of allocated funds over the first 3 years of a 10 year program whereas on-farm water use efficiency programs in most states have only just been initiated. QFF is yet to see any on-farm water use efficiency program launched in Queensland and as outlined above there has been little progress with buyback across the Qld catchments at the conclusion of the last round of purchasing.

REGIONAL SKILLS RELOCATION REVIEW
The federal government announced on the 17th of February a Parliamentary Inquiry into the regional skills relocation initiative. Written submissions are required by the 9th of April. At issue is the applicability of government employment policies to address the skills shortages in regional Australia, particularly the relocation support to unemployed workers from areas of high unemployment to areas experiencing skills shortages. The inquiry process can be followed at http://www.aph.gov.au/house/committee/ewr/regionalskills/tor.htm  

MEMBER NEWS

IR MEETINGS ON NEXT WEEK FOR STANTHORPE/LOCKYER VALLEY/NAMBOUR HORTICULTURE GROWERS
The new Fair Work Australia workplace relations system took full effect on the 1st of January 2010. The new system brings a raft of changes to employer and employee rights and obligations and also brings with it a brand new national award for the horticulture industry – the Horticulture Industry Award 2010. Peak horticulture organisation Growcom will present a series of comprehensive information seminars throughout Queensland to assist horticulture employers to understand and apply the new rules. These sessions will kick off in Stanthorpe on Tuesday, 2nd of March at the Stanthorpe RSL Services Club from 11am to be followed by a meeting in the Lockyer Valley the following day at the DPI Gatton research station from 11am. A seminar will follow in Nambour on Thursday, 4th of March from 11am at the Nambour Community Centre in Shearer Street. Seminars will run for between two and three hours. Meetings in central and north Queensland will follow, with additional seminars planned according to demand. The information sessions are free and open to all horticultural growers. However places are limited. Growers who wish to attend should RSVP as soon as possible to Michael Cowan at Growcom on 1300 137 949 or 07 3620 3844 or by email to mcowan@growcom.com.au.

QDO MEMBER EMPLOYER ADVICE LINE – LIVE FROM MONDAY MARCH 1ST
Monday sees the launch of the Queensland Dairyfarmers Organisation’s new Industrial Relations telephone advice line service for financial members of the QDO. This service is run for the QDO by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Queensland, the State’s leading business association. The advice line is an extension on a service they had previously offered but has been expanded to provide specific advice on the new Pastoral Award and the transitional provisions. With the recent introduction of the new national Fair Work Act 2009, combined with the decision of the Queensland Government on the 11th of November 2009 to refer its award powers for private sector employment to the Federal Government has meant that the employment laws that affect dairy farmers in this state changed significantly on the 1st of January 2010. For Queensland dairy farmers this meant significant changes to how staff are employed. All dairy employers are now covered by the federal industrial/employment laws and the new Pastoral Industry Award 2010. A formal announcement and details on how to access this service were mailed to all QDO members during the week.

OTHER NEWS

GM CROP ADOPTION CONTINUES TO CLIMB
The International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Crops (ISAAA) has announced (on Tuesday, 23rd of February 2010) that the global uptake of GM crops had continued to increase in 2009. 

Country	Area (million hectares)	GM crops
USA	64	Soybean, corn, cotton, canola, squash, papaya, alfalfa (lucerne), sugarbeet
Brazil	21.4	Soybean, corn, cotton
Argentina	21.3	Soybean, corn, cotton
India	8.4	Cotton
Canada	8.2	Canola, corn, soybean, sugarbeet
China	3.7	Cotton, tomato, poplar, papaya, sweet pepper
Paraguay	2.2	Soybean
South Africa	2.1	Corn, soybean, cotton
Uruguay	0.8	Soybean, corn
Bolivia	0.8	Soybean
Philippines	0.5	Corn
Australia	0.2	Cotton, canola

In brief:
• In 2009, 134 million hectares of GM crops were planted around the world - representing an 80-fold increase between 1996 (when GM crops were first commercialised) and 2009.
• The number of farmers growing GM crops increased to 14 million - 13 million of which (or over 90 per cent) were based in developing countries.
• This GM crop adoption increase represents a nine million hectare or seven per cent per annum growth between 1996 and 2009.
• The number of countries planting GM crops remained the same as in 2008, at 25, with Costa Rica listed for the first time and Germany discontinuing planting of GM corn at the end of the 2008 season.
• As well those countries mentioned in the table above, Burkina Faso, Spain, Mexico, Chile, Colombia, Honduras, Czech Republic, Portugal, Romania, Poland, Costa Rica, Egypt, and Slovakia also grew GM crops in 2009.
• Fifty-seven countries have granted regulatory approvals for GM crops for import for food and feed use and release into the environment since 1996. A total of 762 approvals have been granted for 155 events in 24 crops; this includes a GM blue rose grown in Japan in 2009. Australia’s national regulatory agency, the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator, also approved the commercial cultivation of the GM blue rose in 2009. The GM rose, like the GM carnations grown in Australia and Colombia, is not included in the global hectarage statistics because it is not defined as a food, feed or fibre crop.

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