19th July 2010
PROPERTY RIGHTS AUSTRALIA
19th July 2010
Beef Crisis meeting
First of all, a few comments on the Beef Crisis meeting at Paradise Lagoons on Friday, 16th July attended by some estimates by up to 700 people.
A comprehensive cross section of industry participants put a very compelling case for a change of direction.
There were calls for more democratic industry representation which is certainly urgent but the proposal that resonated most with me was a call for transparency gained by mandatory reporting of profit levels in the market chain as is now law in the United States. Their Anti Trust and Divestiture laws are 104 years old. We have no divestiture laws and our competition authority is a toothless operation compared to the American counterpart where the USDA initiates actions and prosecutes anti-competitive behaviour.
It was the day before the present election was called but Senator Heffernan called for farmers to blockade Canberra and bring the capital to a standstill, “You’ve got to hurt politicians to get action,” he said.
The best definition of politics is that it is “the art of the possible” and it is not entirely clear how we can achieve anything with the distinct possibility of the Greens holding the balance of power after the next election.
Heffernan is right. More than ever we will have to Stand Our Ground.
Prosecutions
Our application for leave to appear before the High Court was disallowed and either the matter of the Simpson’s prosecution is dropped or has to be taken up again in the Magistrates Court by the prosecution.
Considering prosecution witnesses lied under oath and fabricated evidence in an effort to obtain a conviction we’ll be watching this case with intense interest.
A Dingo grazier was convicted and fined $20,000 for using his tractor to help clear land on his neighbour’s property. This is a record amount. The message is, landholders and contractors must independently check the status of the land to be cleared with local government, and state and federal departments and the status can be changed by any of these authorities. If you have obtained authority in writing it may only last a month and can be changed without notification or consultation (after 28days).
I am forwarding the article and our covering reply.
Emerald Conference
Ruth Bonnett from Brisbane, who was at Emerald, with a team, has put speeches from the conference on Youtube http://www.youtube.com/user/PropertyRightsAustr. They are all extremely good value. So far there are Phillip Sheridan, Lee McNicholl, Evelyn Crawford, Ashley McKay, Viv Forbes and Ray Jameson. There are also clips of Cate Stuart, her daughter Ashley and the Thompsons from WA. Ruth has done this entirely free of charge. We owe her a great debt of gratitude.
The site is www.agmates.ning.com
Click on communities,then Property Rights Australia, find the heading Emerald and find the posts by Ruth Bonnett.
The Board
At our first teleconference I was re-elected Chairman, Lee McNicholl, Vice Chairman, Anne Simpson Secretary and Joanne Rea Treasurer. We welcome Mark Howard to the board and we are gathering an enthusiastic band of helpers. We may have lost in the High Court but by exposing government activities we will win in the court of public opinion. Peter Anderson and Chris Leeds are continuing.
We thank Ernie Camp and his wife Kylie for their help and wish them well with their increasing local government responsibilities. We will confer with them on relevant matters.
Kind regards
Ron Bahnisch
Ron Bahnisch,
Chairman
Property Rights Australia
STAND YOUR GROUND