Cotton Australia (CA) supports the actions of the Northern Territory Government in enforcing the laws of the Territory.

CA has been made aware that penalty infringement notices have been issued to a company and an individual for land clearing that occurred in 2021.

The relevant department considered infringement notices were a balanced response rather than prosecution while recognising the breaches were considered at a lower threshold of environmental impact as the proponent had met all the criteria of the government’s processes.

A CA spokesperson said the department acknowledged a Development Application had been lodged for the clearing. “It was found that the clearing of the land was unlikely to be of material environmental harm and that view was supported by experts from the Department of Environment, Parks and Water Security.

“We expect all our growers to uphold and comply with all laws in relation to growing their crops. In this case, it is our understanding that all the procedures had been followed and approved however due to an administrative error clearing began just before the permits were officially issued.”