Federal senators and environmental groups are calling for an urgent inquiry into land clearing in the Northern Territory, where hundreds of hectares of tropical savanna have been razed – in some cases without a permit.
In a letter sent to Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek on Wednesday, senator Sarah Hanson-Young said she was "deeply concerned" about alleged unauthorised clearing for cotton farming and even more concerned about the lack of response from the NT government in the absence of fines or sanctions.
"Clearing land without authorisation is reckless … If big industry think they can bypass regulatory processes there will be major environmental consequences for the region," she said.
"I urge you to direct your department to establish an inquiry into this unauthorised land clearing and the impact on the unique tropical savanna.
"With the cotton industry looking to grow in the NT it is vital there are proper regulations in place."
Following an extensive investigation into cotton farming in the Northern Territory, 7.30 obtained evidence indicating land clearing was taking place without a permit, which is generally against the law.
Speaking on ABC Radio Darwin on Thursday morning, Acting Chief Minister Nicole Manison said the government was regulating the industry sustainably and she rejected the notion that federal intervention was needed.
"I don't think the views of a Greens senator from down south are really relevant here," she said.
"Do we have mass issues here that require a federal inquiry? Absolutely not.
"We are working hand in hand with the cotton industry, with of course our environmental regulators, the Pastoral Land Board, to make sure that we can grow this sustainably."
Independent senator David Pocock has backed calls for a federal inquiry and has major concerns about land clearing on a national level.
He said given that an area the size of Tasmania had been cleared across Australia without any attempt to seek approval over the past two decades, there was an urgent need for national environment laws to be immediately updated and a national watchdog established.
"We have to have laws that actually ensure that we're protecting this incredible continent and getting the right balance by using available land for agriculture, but not continuing to clear land unnecessarily," he said.
"Back in 2001 Labor, who were then in opposition, proposed having a land-clearing trigger in our environmental laws, so we've known about this for a couple of decades now.
"It is finally time to act and to better look after the places that we live."
At a press conference in Darwin on Wednesday, NT Environment Minister Lauren Moss praised the government's environment regulations as "world class" and said less than 1 per cent of the Territory had been cleared, listing pests, fire and weeds as far greater threats to the ecosystem.
However, according to Kelly O'Shanassy, the chief executive of the Australian Conservation Foundation, land clearing is "running rampant" in Australia, with most of it occurring in the north.
Satellite imagery had proven Australia to be a global hotspot when it came to clearing for agriculture in comparison to other countries, she said, and much of it was happening without approval.
"Australia's savanna is of global importance, so it is appropriate for the federal government to step in."
But despite the federal government's recent commitment to overhaul Australia's environment laws, including establishing a federal environmental protection agency, Ms O'Shanassy said more reform was needed.
"Our national environment laws are also weak, they're so weak that you can drive a bulldozer through them," she said.
"The Australian government just went to Montreal to sign a global agreement to end the destruction of nature and to end extinction. Now they're back in Australia, they need to actually live up to that."
Data shows land clearing rose roughly 300 per cent between 2018 to 2021, according to Environmental Justice Australia lawyer Laura Dreyfus, which she said was problematic under a government lacking in transparency.
"The laws that are regulating land clearing, and also at the moment the expansion of cotton in the Northern Territory, is done under the Pastoral Land Act, and that act is not fit for purpose and was not designed to protect the environment," she said.
Michael Murray, the general manager of Cotton Australia emphasised that while the territory had a right to develop its agricultural industries, it needed to happen in a sustainable way.
"Our expectation as an industry is people need to do the right thing [and] it's up to the government to set what that right thing is," he said.
However, he said calls for an inquiry seemed "a vast overreaction".
"I think people need to really understand from a Northern Territory perspective that if you compare the level of agricultural crop plant development in the territory compared to any of the other eastern states, it's a tiny fraction," he said.
