The Greens have secured an Australian-first register of foreign owned water entitlements, in agreeing to support government legislation that gives the Foreign Investment Review Board greater scope to check if sales of Australian land to overseas buyers is in the national interest.

“The Australian Greens welcome the Treasurer's decision to heed the advice of the Foreign Investment Review Board and refuse authorisation for the foreign acquisition of S. Kidman and Co, which is Australia’s largest private land holding being 2.5 per cent of Australia’s agricultural land”, said Australian Greens spokesperson on Agriculture, Senator Rachel Siewert.

“The Kidman properties are not only iconic, they have high environmental values and are an important part of our agricultural production.

The Farming Land Access Agreement Template released by the Western Australian Government today does not change the fact that farmers still don’t have legal rights to say no to petroleum activities, including fracking for shale gas, on their land.

“It’s shameful that farmers do not have any legal rights to protect their land, water and the climate from oil and gas when the big petroleum companies come knocking,” Australian Greens Senator for WA, Rachel Siewert, said.

The Court of Appeals’ decision in the Steve Marsh case is a blow to everyone who stands against GM crops and the impact will be disastrous, according to Greens WA Spokesperson for Food and GMOs Lynn MacLaren MLC.

“This most recent decision proves that our State laws don’t protect non-GM farmers or their markets,” Ms MacLaren said.

“The vast majority of farmers are non-GM or organic so the impact on their industry will be incalculable. We need urgent law reform to provide the necessary wide-scale protection.

Australian Greens Senator Rachel Siewert has said it should serve as ‘a huge alarm signal’ that the Barnett Government has chosen an applicant for a permit to explore the South West region for shale gas and oil.

“This is about getting fracking going in the South West, fracking is the method for extracting shale gas, the community will not be fooled.

“For the State Government to downplay potential fracking in the region whilst they are lining up permits for exploration of unconventional gas is offensive and I’m sure will receive immediate backlash from the community.

Greens animal welfare spokesperson Senator Lee Rhiannon said that Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce has mislead farmers and the public when he expressed surprise saying he was "disappointed" over the Indonesian government's plan to cut cattle imports from Australia.

"How could Minister Joyce be surprised and disappointed when news of the Indonesian decision has been on the public record for many years," Senator Rhiannon said.

Australian Greens Senator Rachel Siewert said today that once again the Government has failed to address climate change when producing important framework for Australia’s farmers through the Agricultural Competitiveness White Paper.  

“We know that climate change is one of the biggest threats to Australian agriculture, the Government failed to address it in the Green paper and once again they have failed to effectively address it in the Agricultural Competitiveness White Paper released by Barnaby Joyce today.

The Government is acting like a bull in a china shop when it comes to tipping $5 billion into development in Northern Australia that was today outlined in the Northern Australia white paper announced by the Prime Minister.

Australian Greens Senator Rachel Siewert said today that ‘development in Northern Australia must be innovative, sustainable and in partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’.