I have often wondered why our freehold title rights do not extend to the soil as any mining company can take over your land without your permission and only give a modest amount of compensation.

Tim Duddy is to be admired for his stand and the neighbours too for their support. I believe that it would be for the betterment of our freehold title rights if it included the rights to whatever is in or below the soil surface. That way, mining companies wouldn't be able to ride roughshod over landholders and have to take the land owner in as a partner if they wanted to mine the land.

The USA has these rights and seeing as we ape most of the things yankee, why not that too?

You make a good point Trugger.

However, a freehold land title is nothing more than a legal instrument as evidence of right and permission to conduct certain activities on a said parcel of land.

If Australia were to become a republic it would probably adopt the US system of land tenure and Tim Duddy would be calling the shots not a mining company using the court system to utilize an antiquated British Crown interpretation of land holding.

It is amazing how silent the farmer's political party remains in events such as Tim Duddy's plight.

The leader of the Purple Party Warren Truss, where do you stand on the issue of misplaced belief farmers have regarding so called land ownership?

Australian farmers do not enjoy the peace of mind and power that comes with absolute land ownership, they never have and never will while Australia remains a Constitutional Monarchy.

Steffi, I think you're missing a major point. Due to the amount of royalties that governments collect, there is no political will to give landowners total rights to their so-called freehold land.

Whether Australia is governed by a Constitutional Monarchy or a Republic, there has to be a political will to change this situation.

The only ultimate motivation for the pollies to do anything is to be found in the power of the ballot box. If enough people demand these rights, eventually some pollies will jump on the band-wagon.

To get them to do this, however, will take a major public relations effort to get landowners to band together as a new political force.

Can you see this happening?

Trugger, I agree with you but the only way I can see it happening is to create a new rural political party with policies that are understood and backed by the rural populace including farmers.

Politicans know there are a lot of rural producers who like to think they are "Top Shelf" with their moleskins, RM Williams shirts, tan boots & flat top hats. They abhor the word "Union" but that is what they need.

Australia is one country that needs one "FARMERS UNION" not all these little boys clubs i.e. PGA, NFF, SAFF, WAFF, and so on creating division of opinion on many rural issues and achieving not much at all to the betterment of Australian Farmers

Great to see the farming community supporting the Food Bowls of Australia.

Too often our governments do not take into consideration the important fact that Australia is more than capable of producing its own good food and allow it to be imported just so they can bring in some other enterprise onto good farming land.

Go the Farmers. Keep up the fight for the land and the Food Bowl.

Well done Tim and your neighbours. if we can't knock down a tree without permission why should the mines be able to ruin a beautiful, fertile and productive valley. What will be left? It will be left like Muswellbrook, Singleton, etc - they look revolting and will never be productive again. They are just a wasteland that will never earn export dollars for Australia once the mines move on. The govt may receive royalties and gain in the short term but will be left with nothing to gain in the long term. We should all be down there, and NSW Farmers Assoc., before another productive valley is lost to the mines!

If we become a Republic (like the USA), and a mining company wanted to step on my property, they would be looking down the barrel - just like I imagine would happen in the USA!

What in the blue blazers is going on with these exploration companies. Haven't we already got enough coal mines as it is. They have trouble getting staff for the ones that are operating let alone open anymore. There's a company doing exactly the same to some very nice farming and grazing country in the Central Qld area as of now. Next we will hear how they cannot ship their coal out of Aust. because of bottlenecks at the ports.