Victoria’s Environment Minister Lily D’Ambrosio will visit the Wimmera tomorrow (Friday) to discuss the state’s contentious native vegetation clearing laws, with Victorian Farmers Federation representatives.
The visit, to VFF president David Jochinke’s farm and neighbouring properties, comes after the government announced an extension to the deadline for submissions on the proposed overhaul of native vegetation regulations.
“It is really good to see she is coming out first hand to see the issues we are talking about are,” Mr Jochinke said. “We are not hear about clearing land, per se, we are about managing the landscape.”
He said he hoped to take the minister out in a boom spray and explain farmers were seeking to get the balance right, between production and the environment.
“We are hoping to show her the issue of paddock trees, not only how the machinery is getting bigger, but the efficiency gains from removing isolated paddock trees.”
“The changes in the current review are not farmer friendly.”
The government originally planned to receive all comments on its native vegetation proposal by February, but agreed to extend the deadline to March, when the grain harvest had finished.
“We’ve always said the consultation period needed to be extended to give farmers the opportunity to get off the tractor and get their heads around what the government is proposing,” Mr Jochinke said.
The VFF had been critical of the proposed changes to the native vegetation laws for not reducing the unnecessary burden that made life difficult for the state’s food producers.
Mr Jochinke said the VFF was disappointed a more extensive reworking of the flawed guidelines was not reflected in the government’s current proposal.
“We have argued for a simplified process for managing native vegetation across the state, providing a model that farmers can understand and work towards,” he said.
Goroke cropper Stephen Rich said he was working with the VFF, after Kaniva residents took him to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT), over plans to remove 34 Black Box trees on land, which adjoins the town.
The site borders the Kaniva caravan park and secondary college.
In February, West Wimmera Shire council approved his planning permit application to remove the trees, so he could get better access to his paddock.
“The biggest problem is the right to object, it’s the townspeople worried about their views,” Mr Rich said.
“Essentially, it’s townspeople telling us what we can and can’t do with our land, which we have paid good money for.” He said he had reduced the number of trees he wanted to remove to 25, after working with an ecologist.
He said he’d also had bought another block of land, containing extensive native vegetation, and had also offset another five and a half hectares.
“We are getting overlap, when we are turning a boom spray, it is a lot of waste and it’s detrimental for the soil, as well.” Overspray rates caused problems with grain and livestock declarations, while isolated trees also meant sticks and gumnuts ended up in grain, which had to be cleaned at the croppers’ expense.
Neighbours had been able to clear vegetation “and move on – it’s got to be fair, across the board,” he said.
And former VFF land management committee chair Ron Hards, Millewa, said native vegetation clearing should always be the number one priority for the organisation.
He said there were many areas which had one or two single trees, in a paddock, which were causing problems. “The current legislation takes control from farmers of their own management of the land and gives it back to the government,” Mr Hards said.
He said he hoped the issue had not dropped off the radar “too far, and we can get back. “I think it still needs to be a high priority, it takes all our right away, as far as native vegetation is concerned, we have no rights whatsoever – the government dictates what we can do.
“The rules around removing vegetation are ludicrous – it’s fairytale stuff, out of an office, by a bureaucrat who wouldn’t have a clue what he is talking about.”
Submissions will now close on March 8.
