THE State Government is committed to setting up a $2 million Rural and Farming Legal Centre if re-elected on November 29 – and Ballarat is one of the possible locations.
Attorney-General Robert Clark made the announcement today together with rural community members and Nationals candidate for Buninyong Sonia Smith.
Ms Smith, a farmer and a lawyer, who is a past member of the National Rural Law and Justice Alliance welcomed the announcement.
“The centre will support farmers and rural residents with issues such as the right-to-farm - we need to look after our local food producers,” Ms Smith said.
“This specialist legal centre will be a great asset for Victoria and is especially good news for electorates like Buninyong, where agriculture is taking place virtually on the doorsteps of suburbia.
Ms Smith said many farmers in the Buninyong electorate and elsewhere were concerned most of all about rates and their discriminatory impact on farmers.
Ms Smith said she quizzed the Attorney General who said that the new centre could well be a useful tool in mounting a case for farmers suffering from the unfair rates burden.
The new State seat of Buninyong contains the two fastest-growing council areas in country Victoria: Golden Plains Shire and Moorabool.
The centre will be supported by pro-bono legal assistance and partnerships with rural and regional law firms and will be a first point-of-contact for farmers.
Ms Smith acknowledged the critical work done by the farm community, the VFF and rural justice and rate payer groups in bringing about today's announcement.
VICTORIA’s peak farmer lobby group has today welcomed a $2 million commitment from the State Coalition to establish a Rural and Farming Legal Centre.
Victorian Farmers Federation president Peter Tuohey said the Centre would provide key specialist advice to farmers on legal issues.
“Farmers need services like this to help them protect their right to farm and to deal with common disputes between neighbours.
“Victorian farmers are increasingly encountering land use conflict, especially when they operate side by side with residential land – so to have a free service like this will go a long way,” Mr Tuohey said.
