AGFORCE has estimated the lives of 25,000 cattle will be spared across parts of Western Queensland after National Parks legislation was flexed to provide fodder for starving livestock.
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Eight properties which once operated as cattle stations and five National Park areas will be temporarily available for use by Queensland's most drought affected graziers.
AgForce Queensland chief executive officer Charles Burke said the move was critical to ensure best possible animal welfare outcomes for stock under current severe weather conditions.
"It simply makes sense to provide access to land that has grass available and is in close proximity to some of the hardest hit areas of Queensland in order to relieve the increasing burden of this drought," he said.
"This will ensure more than 25,000 cattle will have access to urgently required feed and, in the longer term, will help make sure our graziers can emerge from this difficult period to continue to be the best beef producers in the world and one of the most important industries in this state."
Despite knocking back applications from graziers in Hughenden to feed their cattle on Moorrinya National Park last week, Minister Steve Dickson said the state wouldn't stand by and watch while graziers were forced to destroy their own stock when land and feed was available.
"These arrangements are limited to only a select number of properties and National Park land, will only be available for graziers suffering from drought or wildfire and will only stay in place for a limited time to assist with the current crisis," he said.
"Importantly, the existence of buffel grass on this land, a foreign species, means carefully managed grazing will reduce fuel loads and also lessen impacts on fire sensitive species."
The Queensland government will next week rush through legislation to open up the parks and reserves allowing for cattle to graze on the land until the end of 2013.
Greens Senator Larissa Waters said the government needs to get fodder to cattle in need to immediately address the animal welfare crisis. "The Newman government should have acted earlier and worked with graziers instead of letting this become an emergency to use as an excuse to open up national parks," she said.
Mr Dickson, whose family was forced off the land when he was six, says there's not enough money to do food drops.
"We've had enough greenie, loopy ideas over the two (previous) terms of (Labor) government, I think it's about time action got ahead of words," he said.
"The alternatives were let (the cattle) die, or keep them alive, it was a pretty clear choice, we didn't have an option."