WAFarmers president, Mike Norton, noted that the ongoing decline in farmers property rights have again been highlighted by the hunger protest by NSW farmer Peter Spencer.

“The sentiments of Mr Spencer are echoed in Western Australia, where farmers have had blanket vegetation clearing bans placed on them, without any recognition or compensation for their diminished earning potential,” said Mr Norton.

“Australia’s farmers and their rural communities have almost single handedly enabled Australia to meet its Kyoto Protocol target and therefore WAFarmers urges the Minister to take this opportunity to ensure that responsible land management can continue to occur in partnership with food production.

“The expectation by governments that farmers must meet the full cost of public good activities is the equivalent of a suburban family being told that they cannot use their living room, because the government is going to store its paper archives there at the family’s expense.”

WAFarmers submission to the Review called for no further ‘watering down’ of clearing exemptions in the Regulations, including the one hectare rule and adequate compensation for landowners with restricted property.

“Minister Faragher must take this opportunity to demonstrate her commitment to the States farmers by acknowledging the work done and costs incurred by these members of our community,” concluded Mr Norton.