A plan to keep top farmland for farming was dropped
Owners and buyers of the best farmland would have been banned from using it for anything else. Andrew Gee, a member of Parliament (MP), brought the bill. It was never debated and was dropped in October 2026.
Official name: Protecting Australia’s Prime Agricultural Land Bill 2026
- Land rated as high quality on a national farmland map would have had to be used for farming.
- Anyone who held or bought that land could not have used it for anything else. Nor could they have let others do so.
- Any federal, state or territory law that would allow other uses of the land would have stopped working.
- Non-farm uses already there could have stayed, but could not have grown.
- The bill was dropped from Parliament's to-do list on 13 October 2026 without a vote.
Who it affects
- Farmers on prime farmland: They could have kept farming, but could not have switched the land to other uses.
- People buying prime farmland: They would have had to make sure the land was only used for farming.
- Builders, miners and energy projects: They could not have started new projects on land the map rates as the best farmland.
- State and territory governments: Their laws would not have worked where they would let the best farmland be used for something else.
Good farmland is in demand
Australia grows food on a small amount of very good land. People also want that land for houses, mines, energy projects and other things.
Andrew Gee MP brought this bill to Parliament. It was a private bill. That means it came from an MP, not from the government.
The bill said it aimed to protect the country's best farmland. It also aimed to make sure Australia always has enough food.
It said it would help Australia keep promises it made in international agreements about farmland. These are deals Australia signed with other countries.
What counted as prime farmland
The bill used a published map to decide which land was covered. It is called the National Agricultural Land Capability Map. Researchers Vanessa Adams and Jayden Engert made it. It came out in 2023.
The map rates land by how well it can grow crops and support farming. Some land is rated extremely high, very high or high. That land would have counted as the best farmland in the bill.
The bill did not say what counts as farming. It would also have covered Australia's island territories far from the mainland. It would have applied to governments as well as private owners.
Rules for owners and buyers
Say you held some of the best farmland. You could not have used it for anything except farming. You also could not have let anyone else use it for something else.
The notes that explain the bill said this would cover companies and state governments too.
If you bought some of this land, you would have had to make sure it stayed in farming.
Say you own a high-rated wheat paddock. A builder offers to buy it for a new housing estate. Under this bill, the new owner would still have had to farm it.
Other laws would have given way
One part of the bill was aimed at other laws. Say the land was top farmland and was being farmed. Then a federal, state or territory law would not have worked if it led to the land being used for something else.
In real life, that could have stopped state approvals that change farmland into land for other uses.
Uses already there
The bill would not have applied to non-farm uses already going on when it started. A house, shed or business already on the land could have stayed.
That use could not have grown. Say part of a block was used for something else. The owner could not have made that part bigger.
If a non-farm use stopped after the law started, the land would have had to go back to farming.
Other details
The government could have written detailed rules to fill in the gaps. It could have done this without a new vote in Parliament.
The bill did not set any fines for breaking these rules.
Dropped after time ran out
If passed, the law would have started the day after the Governor-General signed it. The Governor-General is the King's stand-in in Australia.
Andrew Gee put the bill to the House of Representatives, the larger house of Parliament, on 23 March 2026. A vote on its main idea was proposed that same day. MPs never debated it after that.
On 13 October 2026 the bill was removed from Parliament's to-do list under the House's own rules. It never came to a vote. It will not become law in this form.
Its journey through Parliament
| 23 Mar 2026 | House of Representatives: Introduced and read a first time |
| 23 Mar 2026 | House of Representatives: Second reading moved |
| 13 Oct 2026 | House of Representatives: Removed from the Notice Paper in accordance with (SO 42) |