Members of the Carter family and supporters were at Parliament House on Wednesday to hand deliver a “plea” letter to planning minister Richard Wynne, urging him not to approve the forced sale of their land.
The minister is yet to decide on whether to accept Bendigo council’s plan to forcibly buy 313 hectares of land off the Carter family to build an industrial park in Marong.
If minister Wynne signs off on the overlay, the acquisition will go ahead and there are no avenues for appeal.
Mother Pauline Carter and daughter Tamrie Carter presented the letter to Mr Wynne and MP Maree Edwards.
They were in Melbourne with family members Brad and Greg.
Prior to the meeting Ms Carter said she was looking forward to meeting Mr Wynne and having him recognise they were a family and real people.
"So he knows we're not just a name on a file or a piece of land," she said.
Ms Carter said it has been a stressful three weeks for the family since the City of Greater Bendigo voted to compulsorily acquire 313 hectares of the Carters' land for the proposed Marong Business Park.
"Our life is on hold," Brad Carter said.
“The council thinks that by offering compensation we would be happy, despite my father telling them from day one we are not for sale,’’ Tamrie Carter read from her letter..
“How can a family that produces your food and battles the elements that Mother Nature throws at us farmers over the decades be treated like this?
“To every politician and councillor who gets to hear this, please. Please stop and think about us – the people who make up the community. I am pleading with you to say no to the public acquisition overlay.”
“The letter by my daughter Tamrie is just asking him to show a bit of sympathy to the family and details how much we love our land,” Max Carter said.
“I was born and raised on our family property in Marong in Central Victoria,” Tamrie Carter said in the letter.
“I am a 4th generation Carter who still lives on the land my great-grandfather farmed.
“He began farming on his return from the Great War, he was a soldier settler. Today my father and brother, along with his young family farm wool, fat lambs, and grow wheat, barley, oats and canola.
“The farm has been home to the Carter family for five generations and still is home to three generations. The eldest is my dad Max who is 65 years of age and the youngest is my niece who is three.
“The past 15 years has been hard, very hard on our family. I was only 11 years of age when this started.
“I am pleading with you on behalf of my family.”
The family has been overwhelmed with the public support of their plight.
Around 100 protesters gathered, many holding signs in support of the Carter family, outside the Bendigo town hall last month ahead of the council vote and chants of “keep fighting Carters” rang out in the council chambers after the decision.
The debate over whether to publicly acquire private land west of the city for an industrial park has raged for 16 years, and pitted the needs of a broader community against those of a farming family.
The City of Greater Bendigo maintained it considered seven other sites for the business park, but the land in Marong was considered most strategically placed.
