27th June 2017
Property Rights Australia Board Member Tricia Agar has prepared a report on 2 of the speakers from our conference. We will have more conference updates in the next newsletter.
2017 Conference Speakers
Malcolm Roberts
Malcolm Roberts the One Nation Senator for Queensland made a presentation at our annual conference, where he gave his ideas regarding property rights in Australia.
Senator Roberts was very adamant that our Australian citizenship property rights have been stripped away by legislation from successive governments, over many decades. Senator Roberts asserts that ownership is not just equity, but the ability to determine and control what happens on that land and not government. Examples of government stripping away in-alienable rights are very evident with the tree clearing laws and diminishing water rights.
Senator Roberts sited the Murray Darling Basin scheme as being contrary to the intent of the Constitution as section 100 of our Constitution states clearly, that the Commonwealth is not to restrict the right of any State or its residents to use water for irrigation.
Senator Roberts also spoke regarding Agenda 21 and the unlawful acts of the UN that use bogus extreme environmental issues to control the rights of landowners across the globe. They especially focus upon water as being a key strategy to leverage control across the world.
Banks also came under fire from Senator Roberts, as he spoke about chairing a “Senate Select Inquiry into Rural Banking” that will travel the length and breadth of Australia to gather evidence.
As Senator Roberts concluded “Ownership, as I outlined earlier is not equity, but the freedom to control what we have paid for. So, when governments tell us what to do with our property, they are actually making themselves the owners and rendering us as merely tenants in our own domain”.
Proposed establishment of Land Access Ombudsman and Office of the Land Access Ombudsman.
The Qld government has put forward a Bill establishing the Land Access Ombudsman and Office of the Land Access Ombudsman.
We have welcomed this Bill. Only time will tell if it saves landowners time and money or is just another hurdle. Findings of the ombudsman are not binding on either party but they can be used in a subsequent proceeding.
Probably the most useful aspects are that the ombudsman must report systemic problems with land access and make good agreements to the government.
The ombudsman is also required to report illegal or possibly illegal activities to the appropriate departments for investigation whether this be an offence against a resource act, the Water Act or Environment and Heritage Act.
The annual report of the ombudsman is to be made available online (without identifying information) as soon as is practicable.
Let’s hope that it shines more light on landowner problems.
There are a few traps for landowners who wish to use this service. Agreements must already be in place. The legislation gives indemnity against non-use of the dispute resolution clauses in a land access agreement or make good agreement. However, the parties must have made efforts to resolve the dispute but your referral will not be accepted for a matter that has been the subject of a proceeding or an arbitration. This could be a bit tricky for the parties.
Each party pays its own costs and the findings are not binding on the parties. There is not the blanket ban on legal advice that the Water Act “dispute resolution” has but there are conditions.
The PRA submission can be found on the parliamentary website.
https://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/work-of-committees/committees/IPNRC/inquiries/current-inquiries/LAO2017
Regards
Joanne Rea
Joanne Rea
Chairman
Property Rights Australia
Phone: 07 49 214 000
Fax: 07 49271 888
Email: pra1@bigpond.net.au
www.propertyrightsaustralia.org
STAND YOUR GROUND