The Wildlife Protection Association has voiced its disapproval of the Federal Government’s sugar industry assistance package of A$150m (US$82m), suggesting the money would be better spent on repairing environmental damage caused by the sugar industry.
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President of the association Pat O’Brien criticised the plan to clear large areas of land for the purpose of expanding the sugar industry.
“Our feeling is that it’s just giving more money to keep causing the damage or creating the damage that they’ve done in the past,” he told ABC Regional News.
“A lot of the low lying melaleuca forests and wetland areas have been cleared and planted – there’s been in many cases creeks damaged, with planting right to the creek banks and soil erosion going into the creeks and into the rivers…there’s the cane toad disaster which was brought about by cane farmers, there’s a whole range of problems that cane farming has caused and there’s an opportunity now to repair some of that damage.”
But the Wildlife Protection Association’s criticism was without foundation, according to Kev Bailey, chairman of Moreton Canegrowers.
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By GlobalData“They’ve been at it all year and in my opinion it’s just utter rubbish,” he said of the Wildlife Protection Association’s repeated criticisms.
“Certainly the sugar industry along with all other agricultural industries have done things in the past that we certainly wouldn’t do and don’t do today.
“I sometimes wonder about these people and wonder what they would expect to live on if they were able to get rid of all the farmers, which seems to be their general attitude.”
