The Tasmanian government will push to set up a parliamentary select committee to scrutinise the controversial sale of Rushy Lagoon, one of the state’s largest farming properties, but the federal government says the move risks undermining investment in the north.
The property near Cape Portland spans more than 21,000 hectares and was sold to the Tasmanian Natural Asset Trust, managed by UK firm Gresham House, in a deal worth more than $100 million approved by Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers.
Federal Agriculture Minister Julie Collins has previously ruled out intervening, saying the sale is a private land transaction and she has no role in it.
Premier Jeremy Rockliff said the committee would examine the role of Commonwealth funding in the sale and whether it helped convert productive farmland to carbon sequestration.
“There is genuine community concern about the implications of this sale, how it happened and what it means for productive agricultural land across our State,” Rockliff said.
Primary Industries Minister Gavin Pearce said around $70 million in federal funding through the Clean Energy Finance Corporation had given the foreign buyer an unfair advantage over local farmers.
“How then is that any way fair to those farmers that wanted to continue those agricultural pursuits on that great piece of land?” Pearce said.
The federal government rejected the criticism.
“It’s disappointing to see the Tasmanian State Liberal Government once again talking down investment in Northern Tasmania,” a federal government spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said the sale represented $140 million in investment and around 190 jobs, with forestry and agriculture able to coexist. The federal government also noted Rushy Lagoon’s land is classified as Class 5 and 6 under Tasmania’s own system and is not considered prime agricultural land.
The Tasmanian Natural Asset Trust welcomed the scrutiny. Spokesperson Jonathan Craven said the project was “a long-term investment that seeks to maximise the property’s environmental and economic potential through climate positive sustainable land management, softwood plantations and ongoing grazing and cropping.”
TasFarmers Chief Operating Officer Neil Grose backed the committee, saying “we can’t be giving away good, productive Tasmanian farmland for the sake of growing carbon credits.”
A TasFarmers survey found 99% of respondents opposed the sale.
Deputy state Labor leader Janie Finlay said she had only just heard about the proposal and had not seen terms of reference.
“We’ll be making our decisions in the caucus, but we understand the importance of understanding particularly the jobs and the value add processing,” Finlay said.
Parliament returns for a two-week sitting block this week.
