Guardian: Hundreds of thousands of hectares of land have been cleared in Queensland, a new study has found, after a surge led by cattle graziers under relaxed laws that the state government is seeking to overturn.
A state science department study on land cover released on Sunday found 296,000 hectares of land was cleared in 2014-15, more than a third of it in Great Barrier Reef catchments.
The deputy premier, Jackie Trad, said this was an alarming trend that demanded immediate action to protect the...