Mr PERRETT (Gympie—LNP) (4.15 pm): I rise to speak on the Nature Conservation and Other
Legislation Amendment Bill. This bill aims to extend existing arrangements which allow beekeeping in
certain national parks. They will be extended for 20 years until 31 December 2044. It also makes some
administrative changes regarding: offences for impersonating or obstructing forestry officers; powers of
officers to seize and deal with seized things; and issues regarding the Wet Tropics Act and the Wet
Tropics Management Plan.
I welcome the government finally keeping its election commitment and extending the access for
commercial beekeepers to national parks for another 20 years. For years, beekeepers have been given
the run-around. Their concerns have been put on the backburner as successive Labor ministers have
put off making decisions which will grant security to beekeepers. Five years ago I called on the
government to act about the impending closure of access to national parks because beekeepers were
facing a dire situation from the government’s procrastination. The agriculture minister is supposed to
advocate for the beekeeping industry at the cabinet table. He was reluctant to stand up. When decisions
on advocacy are needed, the efforts are unimpressive.
Mr FURNER: Madam Deputy Speaker, I rise to a point of order. I find the comments made by the
member for Gympie offensive. I ask him to withdraw.
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER (Ms Bush): Member for Gympie, will you withdraw?
Mr PERRETT: I withdraw. We finally have action because the deadline is looming. People who
run businesses need lead-in times. Those who have worked in business know that planning and
financial commitments are made long in advance. Without guarantees, there is no security to invest,
and the alternative is to close, move on and find alternative work.
In 2017 I called on the government to conduct an urgent review into the closure of access from
the end of 2024. That was five years ago—half a decade. When the Nature Conservation Act 1992 was
enacted, beekeepers were promised the government would find alternative sources. In 2018 the
government told the industry that a review into the impact of honey bees on native forest was underway.
It told beekeepers they should document attempts they made to identify alternative sites and why the
sites may be unsuitable or unavailable. It also asked beekeepers to consider managing access tracks
and other key infrastructure and to work more closely with the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service
on pest, fire and biosecurity management issues. Beekeepers did what was asked of them but the
government sat on the report.
Three years ago in 2019 I asked the then environment minister whether the government would
release the report. It still sat on the report, keeping it under lock and key. I warned the government that
sitting on the report and the government’s culture of secrecy was hurting the industry. Beekeepers
needed to know what was going on. I warned that the situation meant funding was already drying up,
confidence was plummeting and the participants were gradually leaving the industry. The Queensland
Beekeepers’ Association resources chairman, Rob Dewar, told the committee—
For some reason, five years is a long time in politics, but as a person trying to work your business—employ people, expand and
pay your mortgage—five years is not that long. They kept shuffling us off saying, ‘We’ll do something about it.’ The time to do
something about it is now.
There are 167,000 hives in Queensland, 9,000 registered beekeepers and 399 commercial
beekeepers managing 114,000 hives. Commercial beekeeping occurs in 49 national parks, with
1,088 apiary sites. In my electorate, the committee report listed Goomboorian, Great Sandy, Gympie,
Tuchekoi and Woondum national parks as supporting 70 apiary sites.
Since their formation in 2011, Valley Bees have been a proactive and very strong advocate on
behalf of the industry. Valley Bees work to create an environment conducive to the ongoing
sustainability of bees. As all bees are needed to pollinate our diverse native flora and introduce food
plants, it focuses on nurturing Australian native bee populations in balance with the honey bee.
Beekeepers were originally never in national parks. Changes to government policy put them in
national parks, with most created as part of the South East Queensland Forests Agreement in 1999.
When they were created, beekeeping was allowed to continue in those areas until 31 December 2024
as part of a transition period. The transition was to minimise disruption to the industry and to provide
time for reallocation to other sites. Over the last 20 years, no viable alternative locations have been
found. Beekeepers actively sought out other sites on private land, but the reality is that factors such as
urban sprawl means there is not sufficient land with the specific requirements needed.
A department of state development and innovation feasibility study to find alternative sites was
not released to the Queensland Beekeepers’ Association, the QBA, or the public. QBA President Jacob
Stevens told the committee that—
… the results have been verbally communicated to the industry in that there was no substantial alternative resources identified.
Even the Labor dominated committee expressed disappointment in the lack of work undertaken
and progress by the Department of Environment and Science to find alternative sites. The committee
chair stated—
…the committee was of the view that more substantial progress should have been made on this task.
There is no excuse.
The industry is more than just a jar of boutique honey. Beekeeping annually contributes an
estimated $2.4 billion to the Queensland economy. Queensland produces more than seven million
kilograms of premium eucalyptus honey every year. It is renowned as the cleanest and greenest honey
because it is chemical-free.
In my electorate, the Mary Valley is renowned as prime country for building pollinating
powerhouses of healthy livestock to provide pollination services to many horticultural industries. Our
growing horticultural sector relies on bee pollination. Unfortunately, beekeepers are turning away
requests because there are simply not enough bees to service the crops.
The QBA estimates that in 2020, the demand for managed honey bee colonies to provide
pollination services amounted to 67,000 hives. Horticulture and small crops industries will struggle to
survive without the beekeepers who work beside them, ensuring that crops such as strawberries,
avocadoes, watermelons and macadamias are pollinated. Macadamias are worth approximately
$180 million to our state’s economy with most of the 4,000 hectares a year being planted in Queensland.
Production is expected to double within the next decade, adding a further $150 million to the
Queensland economy. Pollinating bees are essential to facilitating this growth.
Horticulture is currently worth approximately $3 billion to the state’s economy and responsible for
more than 20,000 jobs in the regions. Growcom’s submission stated that a thriving honey bee industry
providing pollination services was a ‘keystone resource essential to the continued success and
expansion of the Queensland horticulture sector’. Their submission further stated—
Continued access to Queensland National Park apiary sites is a core regulatory condition to secure the future of both the
Queensland honey bee and horticulture sectors.
A Senate inquiry in 2014 found that 65 per cent of all of Australia’s food sources are reliant on bee
pollination. The Australian Food and Grocery Council submission said that—
By conservative estimates, some 2/3 of Australia’s food crops rely on the pollination services of professional apiarists and the
bees under their care.
Continually fobbing off the beekeeping industry puts the livelihoods of beekeepers and the
security of the horticultural and small crops sectors at risk. The government has provided no scientific
evidence that beekeeping adversely impacts our national parks. The Department of Environment and
Science commissioned a comprehensive independent review of more than 200 papers of scientific
literature on the effect of managed honey bees on native flora and fauna. QBA President Jacob Stevens
told the committee it ‘concluded there was an absence of evidence of ecological effects’.
Under this bill, beekeepers will still have to operate with the threat that the government will one
day remove access to national parks. There is no evidence this is harming our national parks, so it
makes no sense to have a time frame. Instead, it makes sense to remove the end date.
To give certainty and security to the industry, the LNP will move a simple amendment to remove
clause 25 section 36A(6) to allow beekeeping to continue in national parks in perpetuity. It gives
confidence to the industry and encourages more to stay within it or enter it. It will remove the fruitless
and never-ending discussions which have impacted productivity.
When I warned the government in 2018, it was six years before the end date. Funding was drying
up, confidence was plummeting and participants were gradually leaving the industry. The government’s
current proposal means that the industry will be facing the same situation in another 16 years.
Beekeepers and the horticultural small crops sectors, the families, the growers, and the regions in which
they operate need certainty. I support the bill, and I urge those members opposite to support our
amendment.
