No Fines or Jail for Picking Plants or Damaging Habitat if Local Land Services Rules Are Followed, and Farms Can Clear Broombush and Blue Mallee for Coppicing in the South Western Slopes Bioregion
Biodiversity Conservation and Local Land Services Legislation Amendment (Broombush and Blue Mallee Coppicing) Bill 2025
Opposition BillLegislative Assembly
Legislative Council
Assent
Topics
agricultural land use agriculture biodiversity biodiversity conservation environmental protection habitat protection land management native vegetation threatened species
Introduced by: Steph Cooke MP (NAT)
Links to official parliament websites
Effects of this bill
If this bill passes, it means that:
The Debate
What different members said when this bill was debated:
Helen Dalton IND
“I make a contribution to debate on the Biodiversity Conservation and Local Land Services Legislation Amendment (Broombush and Blue Mallee Coppicing) Bill 2025. I thank members, especially on this side of the House, for taking a few minutes out of their day to support the member for Cootamundra. I grew up in and around the West Wyalong area and I know the district well.”
Liza Butler ALP
“I make a contribution to debate on the Biodiversity Conservation and Local Land Services Legislation Amendment (Broombush and Blue Mallee Coppicing) Bill 2025, introduced by the member for Cootamundra. As my colleague the member for Blue Mountains rightly said in the Government’s response to the bill, this is not a question of intent.”
Brendan Moylan NAT
“I support the Biodiversity Conservation and Local Land Services Legislation Amendment (Broombush and Blue Mallee Coppicing) Bill 2025. I thank the member for Cootamundra for all the work that has gone into drafting the bill and for bringing the concerns of her constituents to this place.”
Donna Davis ALP
“I contribute to debate on the Biodiversity Conservation and Local Land Services Legislation Amendment (Broombush and Blue Mallee Coppicing) Bill 2025, introduced by the member for Cootamundra. I acknowledge the member for Northern Tablelands, the member for Blue Mountains, the member for South Coast and the member for Murray for their contributions.”
Paul Toole NAT
“It gives me pleasure to contribute to debate on the Biodiversity Conservation and Local Land Services Legislation Amendment (Broombush and Blue Mallee Coppicing) Bill 2025. I begin by thanking the member for Cootamundra for bringing the bill to this House. This is such an important issue for communities that have been impacted by the change that has occurred.”
Marjorie O'Neill ALP
“I make a contribution to debate on the Biodiversity Conservation and Local Land Services Legislation Amendment (Broombush and Blue Mallee Coppicing) Bill 2025, introduced by the member for Cootamundra. I acknowledge the sincere intent with which she brings the bill to the House, her desire to fix the problem and her sincere representation of her constituents and the people of West Wyalong.”
Justin Clancy LIB
“I welcome the opportunity to contribute to debate on the Biodiversity Conservation and Local Land Services Legislation Amendment (Broombush and Blue Mallee Coppicing) Bill 2025. More importantly, I speak in strong support of the bill introduced by my colleague the member for Cootamundra. I thank the member for Coogee and the member for Bathurst for their contributions.”
Nathan Hagarty ALP
“I speak in debate on the Biodiversity Conservation and Local Land Services Legislation Amendment (Broombush and Blue Mallee Coppicing) Bill 2025, introduced by the member for Cootamundra. I acknowledge the work that she has done on the bill. I listened to her passionate contribution on Ben Fordham’s show this morning. I have not been in this place for long and we have not had many interactions.”
Steph Cooke NAT
“I particularly thank the member for Murray, the member for Northern Tablelands, the member for Bathurst, the member for Albury and the member for Leppington. I thank the member for Blue Mountains for leading debate on behalf of the Government and also the member for Coogee for her kind comments. They are two members of this place who have a childhood and an adult understanding of farming.”
News articles and press releases
Biodiversity Conservation and Local Land Services Legislation Amendment (Broombush and Blue Mallee Coppicing) Bill 2025
Ms STEPH COOKE, Member for Cootamundra — 2025-06-26
It is also, without exaggeration, a chance to prevent our native vegetation on both private and public land from being strangled to death by the unchecked and rapid growth of the mallee strangle‑vine. Without intervention, we will lose both the industry and the healthy, thriving natural environment it helps sustain. This bill is a practical, time‑limited and geographically defined proposal to address a policy failure that is putting lives, livelihoods and our environment at risk. It seeks to create clarity and restore a basic truth—that farmers who coppice are not clearing land; they are conserving it.