A former minister in the Berejiklian government is alleged to have told farmers in his north-west rural New South Wales seat that they could clear native vegetation with impunity because the government was planning to change the law and they would not be prosecuted.

At least that is the message farmers say they took away from numerous meetings and conversations with the former member for Barwon, Kevin Humphries.

At least two farmers who were later prosecuted for illegal land clearing have raised conversations with Humphries during sentencing hearings in the NSW land and environment court in the last four months – and the judges hearing the cases have included the accounts in their judgments.

Guardian Australia understands that other farmers who are being investigated have raised similar conversations with their legal representatives as they prepared their cases. At least 10 farmers are now before the courts, with many from areas within Humphries’ old seat.

The old Native Vegetation Act, which was deeply resented by farmers, particularly in Barwon, was repealed in August 2017. It was replaced by the Local Land Services Act, which made land clearing easier and allowed farmers to self-assess whether they required approval.

But even before the new laws came into place, rates of land clearing – particularly in north-west NSW – had increased sharply as farmers anticipated a change in the law. The latest available figures show clearing has tripled from about 9,000 hectares a year in 2014-15 to more than 27,000 hectares in 2017-18. That’s equivalent to 100 Sydney central business districts each year.

Much of these newly cleared areas are now vast plains of dirt because farmers have not been able to plant them during the drought.

The land clearing has also divided communities, pitting farmers and large agribusiness against the officers charged with enforcing the environmental laws and environmentalists.

While Kevin Humphries was local member – he retired at the March state election – he appears to have single-handedly raised farmers’ expectations about what they would be permitted to do under the new laws.

More than 150 farmers are facing compliance actions over land clearing in NSW – with the majority from the north-west of the state.

During his hearing before the land and environment court this year, Jeffrey Brummell, a farmer from Rowena, near Walgett, told the court that he accepted he should have looked into the legality of clearing the 423 hectares of vegetation from his property, but that he had relied on advice from Humphries.

In accepting his guilty plea in August, Chief Justice Brian Preston made special mention of Brummell’s evidence, saying he “had acted on incorrect representations by the local state MP regarding the relaxation of Native vegetation laws”.

According to Brummell, he had attended a meeting of farmers where he alleges Humphries had said words to the effect of: “We’re going to get rid of the native vegetation laws and we’re going to fix that area so farmers can again undertake farming and develop country.”

Brummell accepted that he should have sought legal advice or advice from the Local Land Services.

Another judgment in April also raises questions about the role of the former local member. Anthony Boyle, a farmer from Garah, also in Walgett shire, pleaded guilty to clearing 500 hectares that included koala habitat. He was fined $348,750.

Boyle said he had bought a nearby property, Brynaman, because there was publicity about the repeal of the Native Vegetation Act and he could see scope to do what he had done at his main property, converting it from grazing to cropping by clearing land.

He said that in 2014 Humphries and other senior National party officials had assured farmers that clearing native vegetation would again be lawful.

While Boyle admitted he should have made further inquiries and not simply relied on the local member of parliament, even the prosecutor acknowledged that this had been a factor in his decision to clear the land.

Perhaps more alarming was Boyle’s claim in court that :“They [the National party representatives] also intervened on behalf of a number of farmers to prevent their prosecution by the [Office of Environment and Heritage].”

Despite multiple calls and emails over two weeks and approaches via the National party headquarters, Humphries did not respond to Guardian Australia.

‘Too explosive’

The ABC reported in 2015 that Humphries made representations to stop investigations on 12 properties in the Wee Waa area of New England, and Humphries himself boasted on his website that that he had intervened with the then environment minister, Mark Speakman, to suspend investigations into illegal land clearing in Wee Waa.

A spokesman for the Minister said this is not the case, and the decision not to visit certain farms was an operational decision made by the Office of Environment and Heritage.

Emails obtained by the ABC and reported by Guardian Australia showed Humphries telling the NSW environment department: “I strongly urge that agencies do not seek to engage landholders on this particular issue at this time – it is too explosive and not warranted.”

The emails came less than a year after the 2014 murder of the Office of Environment and Heritage worker Glen Turner. He was killed by a farmer, Ian Turnbull, during a site inspection as part of an investigation into allegations of illegal land clearing.

Internal OEH correspondence showed Humphries’ email had been interpreted as a threat and the risk of “catastrophic” consequences associated with an inspection was thought to be “extreme”.

In one email an environment officer said: “I am of the opinion that the comments of Mr Humphries amount to a threat which cannot be adequately assessed in the available time.”

The OEH later said the compliance visits in Wee Waa had been cancelled for “operational reasons” and were not dropped because of Humphries’ email.

Humphries has also been accused of causing confusion among farmers about water laws.

During his trial this year for breaching the Water Management act, Anthony Barlow, a cotton grower from Burren Downs, gave evidence that at a meeting of water users on 25 March 2015 he was told personally by the then-water minister, Humphries, that a ban on pumping from the Barwon River had been lifted.

Preston found that Humphries had given that erroneous advice during the meeting and that this had been corroborated by an employee of the Office of Water, who made a file note that the minister replied to a water user’s question with: “You’re not listening … there’s no embargo.”

The judge said he had taken this into account in the sentencing.



Humphries had previously denied making the statements to the ABC.

Although the NSW government has announced it will not be launching new cases based on breaches of the old land clearing laws, there are a number of prosecutions before the courts, some involving large-scale land clearing of 1,000 hectares or more. It is not clear whether those cases will proceed.

The “amnesty” does not include land clearing that would be illegal under the new laws, according to the environment department’s new prosecution policy.

The government hopes that this concession will calm the anger among farmers who feel that they were hard done by under the old laws.