Trends in current Australian agricultural policy and land resource management

Food security and the human right to food, as recognised under Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 11 of the International Covenant of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, are intrinsically linked. Both Articles recognize that access to agricultural land and security of tenure is essential to achieving food security. The right to food requires that each individual, alone or in concert with others, has physical and economic access at all times to adequate food or means for its procurement. Primarily, however, the right to food requires that: States refrain from taking measures that may deprive individuals of access to productive resources on which they depend when they produce food for themselves (the obligation to respect); that they protect such access from encroachment by other private parties (the obligation to protect); and that they seek to strengthen people’s access to and utilization of resources and means to ensure their livelihoods, including food security (the obligation to fulfil). This paper explores and assesses three contemporary policy instruments in the area of agricultural production and unconventional gas operations in Australia against the right to food and security of tenure. It examines the new natural resource governance proposals in The Agricultural Competitiveness Green Paper, The Regional Planning Interests Act 2014 (Qld) protecting prime agricultural land and The Multiple Land Use Framework developed in recognition of the conflict arising over land access and land use.