Right to farm rally rolls out support

Ignoring a plea from police to leave tractors at home, Tasmanian farmers and around 500 supporters have descended on Parliament Lawns to rally against what they say is regulatory overreach by the Forest Practices Authority and other government organisations.

Emily and Andrew McCarthy left Bridport at 4am on a tractor to attend - carting their tractor on a truck before ditching it outside Hobart and driving into the city for the final leg of the journey.

About 50 tractors parked over the road at PW1.

Victoria’s Farmers Fightback lobby group had a group of delegates on the ground at the rally, lending support and live-streaming the event and its motives to its 150,000 supporters.

Ben Dixon, a sixth-generation farmer from the Wimmera region in Victoria and the founder of the grassroots advocacy group said "farmers deserve to stand up for themselves and push back against bureaucrats and the insidious governments trying to take over these farms".

“We came over to support the Tasmanian farmers - I know this is going to be the start of a long journey for you, but we need to make sure we all stand up for each other.

Prominent Tasmanian author, journalist and regenerative agriculturalist Rachael Treasure was at the rally and said "it is very hard to farm well when government red tape, aggressive bureaucracy and corrupt political systems that are run by big business stand in the way of small farmers wanting to farm well for their local communities.

"When I stand on the lawns of Parliament House today I will be standing for the rights for all people to have the right to eat food from a farming system that provides agro-ecogical and ethically grown foods - from meat, to milk to muesli!

Farmers and Landowners Action Group (FLAG) founder Lindsay White handed over a petition with more than 3000 signatures calling for changes to regulations, to Shooters, Fishers and Farmers (SFF) MP Carlo Di Falco.

Mr White said the petition was launched months ago and he reckoned that if it had been launched now, it would have tripled the number of signatures.

“The petition was the catalyst for doing this rally,” Mr White said.

“We want to show the government that we’re not happy with what is happening.

“There are a lot of farmers disenchanted with the rules, regulations and red tape that we are putting up with.”

Mr White said he believed FLAG’s message was starting to get through to the government.

“We’ve had three very good meetings with the ministers and the Premier.

“We’re getting their support, and they all agree that we need to change things.”

FLAG have been going around the state speaking to farmers and hearing their stories.

“People have been telling me all around the state that there’s been a serious overreach by the FPA and other organisations about what we can and can’t do on our farms.

“We need to change the regulations and put a stop to it.”

Mr Di Falco said he supported FLAG and its aims.

“The FLAG movement is a result of overreach by a bunch of faceless bureaucrats,” he said.

“Why do we need to go and target farmers who are paying mortgages and rates, doing all the maintenance and improvements on their farm.

“The SFF have always been really strong on private property rights.”

Many farmers have been handed down fines by the FPA for unauthorised land clearing on their property.

“We’ve asked to be involved in face-to-face meetings with the FPA,” Mr Di Falco said.

“I’ve got a whole heap of questions I want to ask them – such as why they are doing this to people who are trying to make a living?”