Agriculture and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2015
Plain English Summary
Overview
This bill updates 10 Queensland agriculture laws with mostly technical changes — clearing the way for drone-based crop spraying, tightening controls on feeding animal products to livestock, speeding up exotic disease responses, simplifying pet microchip rules, and realigning company director liability with national principles. It also stops the automatic repeal of rules that manage the state's 38 remaining forest reserves, keeping them in place until those lands can be transferred to new tenures.
Who it affects
Farmers, aerial spraying operators and drone pilots, pet owners, rural landowners, and agricultural business directors are most directly affected. Users of forest reserves — tourism operators, recreational users and researchers — retain their existing access and rules.
Drones and aerial chemical spraying
Rewrites licensing so pilots and aerial distribution contractors can use unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) to apply agricultural chemicals, matching Commonwealth civil aviation rules. The chief executive can also attach conditions to licences at any time.
- Drone operators can now get pilot chemical rating and aerial distribution contractor licences
- Licences reference a broad 'civil aviation authorisation' so the law does not need updating every time CASA changes its licence names
- New 100 penalty unit offence for contravening a licence condition
- Licence holders can challenge new conditions or cancellations at QCAT
- Old provisions requiring government to investigate crop or stock damage from chemical spraying are removed
Livestock feed and biosecurity
Replaces the Biosecurity Act's rules on feeding 'animal matter' with separate, clearer prohibitions on feeding restricted animal material to ruminants (cattle, sheep, goats, etc.) and to pigs or poultry. Exemptions exist for approved treatment processes and for scientific use permits.
- Maximum penalty of 400 penalty units for feeding, supplying or failing to prevent the feeding of restricted animal material to ruminants, pigs or poultry
- Chief executive can approve treatment processes and scientific-use permits that exempt a person from the feeding offences
- Certain materials (gelatine, tallow, milk products, used cooking oil prescribed by regulation) are excluded from the restriction
- Biosecurity certificates, not permits, must be used where a biosecurity zone already has a certification scheme
- Auditors' approvals can be immediately suspended where there is a serious risk to trade in a commodity
Exotic disease rapid response
Lets the chief executive declare restricted areas and standstill zones for exotic animal diseases by publishing a notice on the department's website, rather than having the Minister make subordinate legislation. Each notice lasts up to 3 months unless replaced.
- Restricted area and standstill zone notices can be made by chief executive, not the Minister
- Notices take effect when published on the department's website and are not subordinate legislation
- Chief executive must take reasonable steps to tell affected people via newspaper, radio, TV, SMS or email
- Notices must be tabled in Parliament within 14 sitting days and last a maximum of 3 months unless replaced by a regulation
Cat and dog identification
Streamlines the microchipping regime by merging the 'permanent identification device' and 'prescribed permanent identification device' definitions into a single PPID standard, and adds a new power to destroy dogs attacking livestock on rural land.
- Single PPID definition replaces the old two-tier PID/PPID system
- 60 penalty unit maximum fine for authorised implanters who implant a non-PPID device into a cat or dog
- Obligations on sellers of microchips are removed as ineffective
- Rural landowners and authorised persons can destroy a dog attacking, or about to attack, livestock without compensation (replaces a provision being repealed from the Land Protection Act)
Company director liability and State employee immunity
Replaces blanket director liability with a COAG-aligned two-tier model (evidential burden for serious offences, deemed liability for lesser ones) and removes duplicate civil liability immunity for State employees now covered by the Public Service Act 2008.
- Directors have a defence if they took 'all reasonable steps' to prevent the corporation's offence
- Definition of 'executive officer' broadened to capture anyone involved in management, not just named directors
- Protection from civil liability for State employees is removed from five agricultural Acts
- Immunity is retained for non-employees acting under an inspector's direction, with the State able to recover from anyone who acted in bad faith or with gross negligence
Forest reserves kept in place
Repeals uncommenced provisions of a 2013 Act that would have automatically scrapped the legal framework for forest reserves on 7 November 2015. Because 38 forest reserves have not yet been transferred to another tenure, the existing rules must continue.
- Part 4 and schedule 1 part 3 of the Nature Conservation and Other Legislation Amendment Act (No. 2) 2013 are omitted before they can commence
- Existing forest reserve management provisions in the Nature Conservation Act 1992 and related Acts stay in effect
- Allows continued management of commercial tourism, recreation, resource take and fire management on the remaining 38 forest reserves
Other technical changes
Fixes lot and plan number typos for Palen Creek and Brooweena State Plantation Forests, updates scientific names for piranhas and Oriental fruit fly, replaces the outdated Scientific Use Code reference, and lets the chief executive rather than the Minister enter biosecurity agreements with utility providers and port authorities.
- Forestry Act corrected to describe the right plantation lots being returned to State forest
- Scheduled prohibited and restricted matter updated with correct scientific terminology
- Stock Act changed so quarantine is discretionary ('may'), not mandatory ('shall'), for suspected diseased stock
- Biosecurity agreements can now be entered into with bodies like utility service providers and port authorities
Bill Journey
Committee report tabled
Referenced Entities
Legislation
Organisations
Sectors Affected
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