New reforms to the Mineral and Energy Resources (Common Provisions) Act 2014 have made it clear that Queensland landholders can be reimbursed for out of pocket expenses reasonably and necessarily incurred in preparing and negotiating a conduct and compensation agreement (CCA) regardless of whether an agreement is reached.
On 2 April 2019, the Fair Work Commission inserted overtime rates for casual employees into the Horticulture Award 2010.
The release of the hotly anticipated Harvest Inquiry Report by the Fair Work Ombudsman provides a timely reminder to employers in the agriculture industry to review their practices in relation to employees.
Changes have been made to the Horticulture Award 2010, Pastoral Award 2010 and Poultry Processing Award 2010 which came into effect on 1 October 2018.
The Planning and Environment Court’s determination in Fairmont Group Pty Ltd v Moreton Bay Regional [2018] QPEC 20, which held that ‘exempt clearing work’ can be made assessable under a planning scheme, is having wide-ranging impacts on all industries including resources, agriculture and development.
Fairmont Group Pty Ltd sought declarations about its right to clear land identified as ‘Category X’ under the Vegetation Management Act 1999 (Qld) (VMA) (land that is not otherwise identified as containing any significant vegetation for the purposes of the VMA).
In an extraordinary decision with wide-ranging impacts, the Planning and Environment Court has determined that a development approval may be required to clear Category X land, notwithstanding that it is “’exempt clearing work” ‘ under the Planning Regulation 2017 (Regulation).
The Queensland Government has recently begun the community engagement stage of preparing the Solar Farm Guidelines, which it hopes to finalise in the second half of 2018.
Family owned agribusiness properties often comprise a number of different lots and businesses, with the whole run as one enterprise.
Agribusiness properties are increasingly complex businesses, which are using a range of different cropping and stock management practices over portions of property of varying quality.
From 1 July 2017, the Farm Business Debt Mediation Act 2017 (Qld) will require mortgagees to offer to engage in mediation with mortgagor farmers before commencing any enforcement action to recover outstanding farm business debts.