Responding to Wild‘s invitation to comment on the matter of grazing leases in national parks, the newly-elected Labor government in Queensland has said it is “actively considering” the issue.
National Parks Association Queensland‘s (NPAQ) Paul Donatiu had initially raised concerns about the practice after finding livestock in heavily grazed regions of Warro National Park. NPAQ went on to reveal the existence of at least 30 such leases across the state.
A spokesperson for the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service has now been able to shed further light in the issue, explaining that quite a few existing leases have been scaling down since the areas gained national park status.
“Current grazing leases in national parks are generally the result of national park acquisitions where Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service worked with graziers to develop conditions to phase out grazing over time.”
They also mentioned that several concessions had been made to graziers under the Newman government as a result of extended drought conditions.
“Under the previous government, hardship grazing authorities were granted over five parks during the drought,” the spokesperson said, adding that these are no longer active or available as grazing sites.
Donatiu remains concerned, saying that “the hardship program was effectively a smokescreen that concealed extensive grazing practices already in place”.
Highlighting the party’s ‘2014 State Conference Policy Platform‘, which explicity states the ALP’s aim to ‘eradicate pest and weed incursions in the protected area estate, including prohibiting the grazing if livestock in national parks’, NPAQ has called on the government to act on this commitment as soon as possible.