Joyce slams Fitzgibbon as forced farmland acquisitions ruled out

It was revealed today that Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull had agreed farms would only be purchased by the government off willing sellers, prompting Mr Joyce to say it was now time to “get a few things on the record”.

“The last person to compulsorily acquire land for the Defence Department was Joel Fitzgibbon as the Minister for Defence, just before they booted him,” the Deputy Prime Minister said.

‘And (at that time) he was with the Australian Labor party and last time I checked, he still is.”

Mr Fitzgibbon has attacked the government’s consultation process around its plans to expand the defence training facilities in a deal with the Singaporean government, with alarm bells raised after landholders in the Shoalwater Bay and Townsville regions were sent letters before Christmas, opening up the possibility of compulsory land acquisition.

On a visit to the region recently to meet with impacted community members, businesses and farmers, Mr Fitzgibbon said the Coalition government should have declared its intentions over the land-grab plans, prior to last year’s federal election.

“They announced the funding for the training area but decided not to share their secret with landholders who are potentially affected by what the landholders themselves have described as a land grab,” he said.

“As a former Defence Minister myself, I understand these issues very well and understand the critical importance of training areas and the opportunities available to expand them particularly if that is given to strengthen relationships with our near partners.

“But the government hasn’t explained the need in detail nor has it explained why this is the only option available to us in terms of the expansion.”

Today, Defence Minister Marise Payne was asked whether she conceded compulsory acquisition should never have been on the table to start with, given the uncertainty and anxiety it’s caused to local farmers and communities over the past two months.

Ms Payne said the initial planning process was a “very comprehensive one” and was open in admitting that it included that hard-line option.

But she said, “I believe it’s important to be up very front with the community and that’s what we have done”.

Ms Payne said the example referred to by Mr Joyce, on the last occasion the compulsory land acquisition issue flared-up, saw 159,000 hectares of land in South Australia advertised in newspapers that it “will be acquired”.

Mr Fitzgibbon resigned his Defence portfolio in 2009 in the Rudd government after conceding he may have breached the Ministerial Code of Conduct over an incident involving his brother Mark Fitzgibbon and discussions about defence health contracting.

He was appointed Agriculture Minister for three-months leading up to the 2013 federal election when Kevin Rudd returned as Prime Minister after defeating Julia Gillard for the Labor party leadership.

In a statement today, Mr Fitzgibbon said, “It is clear from the government’s massive backflip that compulsory land acquisitions were on the table and there is no doubt farmers will continue to feel under pressure to sell”.

But Mr Joyce said the Coalition government’s decision – which was also pushed by local National party MPs Michelle Landry and Ken O’Dowd – showed the government had heard community concerns about compulsory land acquisitions and reacted accordingly.

“What this shows is that this government, this Coalition government, has the capacity to deal with an issue and rather than just say ‘Well bad luck, you’ve just got to tough out and see you later’, we heard the concerns, we reacted and we’ve now mollified the position in such a way that no person, who doesn’t want to sell, has to sell,” he said.

“Now I think that is actually what a government should be commended for or a minister should be commended for.”

Mr Joyce said if the government didn’t act, the community would accuse them of being “arrogant”, not listening and believing they were a “master of the people rather than a servant of the people”.

“We are changing the position so that we make sure that we get what we want in a form that is on-side with farmers,” he said.

“Ultimately the major concern was people do not want their property purchased against their wishes but they certainly want to retain the right if they do wish to sell, that they’re able to sell, and that would be a right in any free nation and any nation that believes in the simple principles of commerce.

“That is; if a willing seller and willing buyer meet each other they should be able to exchange contracts and continue on.”

Mr Joyce said the Prime Minister and Defence Minister now had “a clear position that property will not be purchased against your wishes”.

“If you wish to sell you can and I don’t see this as being a major detour from what we’re doing in any case,” he said.

Ms Payne said the initial planning process for developing the Shoalwater Bay and Townsville military training areas commenced last year and had been underway for some time.

She said the Department of Defence’s master planning process would continue on and likely be finalised in a fortnight or so.

“It will continue without the pursuit of forced sales and that is a matter the Deputy Prime Minister and Prime Minister and I have discussed at some length in the last few days,” she said.

“It’s important we’re able to complete the master planning process.”

Ms Payne said a KPMG study, with a socio-economic focus on community impacts, was due to be completed, slightly after the master planning document.

Ms Landry said the defence land acquisition proposal had been a big issue for farmers in her Capricornia electorate, upsetting many of them.

But she welcomed today’s commitment that there would be no compulsory land acquisitions calling it a “win for the whole community”.

“This will certainly make our farming communities, very, very happy,” she said, adding that the local business community would also benefit from the long-term, multi-billion dollar investment in the training facilities expansion.

Mr O’Dowd welcomed the commitment and thanked farmers in the impacted area for their patience including some who’ve worked the land for more than 140 years.

“If you’d like to sell your property, go out and negotiate as hard as you like with the Defence Department and if you don’t want to sell, that’s fine just keep doing what you do well,” he said.

The National Farmers’ Federation COE Tony Mahar said the anxiety, stress and grief caused to landholders over the past two months was “unfortunate”.

But he welcomed the government’s recognition, by committing to no compulsory land acquisitions, of the importance of farmers, agriculture and businesses in the impacted region and the industry’s role in national economy.

“It’s very pleasing to see that the government has recognised that any moves, any proposals that take businesses, land and communities for granted, will not be accepted by the ag-industry and it’s unacceptable to have proposals to compulsorily acquire farm land on the table,” he said.

“Going forward we need to have a much more strategic conversation around where agriculture fits in the national landscape and make sure it is prioritised in the national economy.”

NFF President Fiona Simson said the government’s proposal never made sense and “never passed the pub test”.

“The community did not wear that the government should be compulsorily acquiring agricultural land for Singaporean army exercises,” she said.

“We do need to have a national conversation about agricultural land.”

Ms Simson said it was unacceptable that the local landholders – representing about 300,000ha and 100,000 head of cattle and a supply chain that made a strong economic contribution to the local community – had suffered months of “anguish” and uncertainty.

But she said today the government had made a “great decision” and “listened to common sense”.

“Compulsory acquisition is one of those things that hangs-over a landholders’ head and it was a threat that the government said hopefully would not be utilised until all other avenues were exhausted,” she said.

“But clearly it is a very terrifying prospect for many of these landholders, many of whom have been farming in that area for a long time and have very productive businesses, farms and families.

“We think that we must keep talking to government about how this won’t happen again and…to improve the process.”