NSW farmers granted amnesty for illegal land-clearing

Environment movement accuses the Berejiklian government of caving in to big agribusiness over the amnesty

New South Wales farmers who cleared land illegally under the old Native Vegetation Act have been granted an amnesty by the Berijiklian government, which has announced it will no longer launch any new prosecutions for breaches of the old law.

Hundreds of cases are believed to be in the pipeline, after the land clearing skyrocketed in north-western NSW ahead of more lenient land clearing laws being introduced by the government in August 2017.