A panel of four experts at a recent Bundaberg agriculture forum outlined the threats to farming in the Wide Bay-Burnett caused by ’overeager’ policies, ignorant locals and aggressive zoning laws.
The 2025 Bundaberg Ag Forum, held by the Bundaberg Ag-Food and Fibre Alliance on 3 February, featured a panel session on the ’right to farm’.
The panellists included Bundaberg mayor Helen Blackburn, solicitor Chris Cooper, Australian Macadamia Society chief executive Clare Hamilton-Bate and Bundaberg farmer Peter McLennan.
The four speakers talked at length about the main threats to farming in the region: the rapid expansion of cities into the ’backyard’ of farmers, and the ever-increasing number of state and federal laws ostensibly limiting the ability of agriculturalists to work efficiently.
Mr Cooper, a solicitor for C. J. Cooper and Associates, who boasts experience in providing legal services to Wide Bay canegrowers, said government overreach into the ag sector was at an all-time high.
“We’ve seen (…) in the recent past an appetite in governments to stick their nose in a bit too far in terms of what you want to do on your farm,“ he said.
Other ’sticky beaks’, the solicitor said, came in the form of locals, with neighbours complaining about the noise, odour and operations of farms reportedly getting louder, better-funded and -organised in recent years.
He called for the Queensland Government to follow in the footsteps of the New South Wales and Tasmanian governments in enshrining a ’right to farm’ in the legal code, which would protect farmers from legal challenges.
Mr Cooper also called on local governments to clearly outline to new citizens that farms are a natural part of rural life.
“We can continue to work (…) and ensure that the rights of growers are protected and allowed to develop,“ he said.
Bundaberg’s mayor Helen Blackburn said her council had taken a number of steps in the past nine months to keep up its commitment to the region’s farmers.
She pledged that the Bundaberg council will become a “more active listener and facilitator“ for farmers, with a policy on the ’right to farm’ currently in the works and expected to be completed by the end of the year.
“Right to farm in our region needs to be embedded so that the community understands what that means,“ Ms Blackburn said, adding that people coming to Bundaberg from outside the region need to “adapt to our culture“ around farming.
Clare Hamilton-Bate, who represented the region’s macadamia sector – which produces close to half of the national crop – said positive change must come soon if the farming industry was to survive.
She drew on her own experience living and working on farms in the United Kingdom, which, she claimed, were closed and removed to make way for residential developments through government intervention.
“Once it’s gone, it’s gone,“ she warned.
Residential-zoned land was already encroaching on formerly rural blocks in the Bundaberg area, the CEO claimed, bringing with it a swathe of new locals ignorant of the ins and outs of a farm.
“It’s more challenging than it’s ever been,“ Ms Hamilton-Bate said.
“It’s easy to be demonised by maybe small, factional groups, but they have a large voice. Social media allows us all to be experts in pretty much everything.“
The CEO of the Australian Macadamia Society said industry and the public needed to work “symbiotically“ to keep farmers farming.
“The industry supports a growing population – and a growing population supports the industry,“ she said.
As a farmer himself, Bundaberg grower Peter McLennan weighed in by claiming growing ’green tape’ had made his work harder than ever.
He said he had “seen a lot of changes since [his] grandfather’s time“, with compliance laws around vegetation management, reef safety, human resources, taxation and licensing being just some of the ways that modern governments have encroached on the daily work of farmers.
Mr McLennan said that small, family farms like his often struggle under the weight of staying compliant with the list of requirements, causing farmers to more frequently step away from the paddock and into their office for fear “someone with a stick“ will come and reprimand them should they fall foul of the law.
He observed a drop in new farmers coming into the industry, which he attributed to the change in the legal landscape.
“Increasing levels of regulation hurt margins [and] productivity and [don’t] necessarily come with environmental benefit,“ Mr McLennan said.
“It certainly doesn’t help food security in a very uncertain world.“
