Farmers launch petition for right to farm

The Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party has sponsored a petition on behalf of Tasmanians wanting to send a message to the State Government that “farmers have a fundamental right to farm their own land”.

Going live on Monday afternoon, the petition had more than 400 signatures in the first 12 hours and following the close of the campaign on July 31, will be tabled in parliament by SFFP member for Lyons Carlo di Falco.

Leading the campaign is Nugent farmer Lindsay White, neighbour to the Fergusson family who recently copped a $100,000 fine for unauthorised clearing of trees on their land.

In launching the petition, Mr White said that he felt compelled to take action when his friends, who have been farming for generations, were penalised for “just trying to farm”.

“They wanted to grow food for the winter for their stock in a very dry time so they had to clear some trees for a center pivot for irrigation - then they were picked up by the Forest Practices Authority (FPA) and that was the catalyst  . . . we really, really need to look after our farmers,” he said.

“We've been pushed around for years now with too many regulations and all we want to do is get on and farm and look after our land and be left alone to grow our food without this constant harrassment from government departments telling us they know more about our land than we do.

“We are aiming to put some serious pressure on the government and the government departments that might change this for us.” 

The petition says that signees “acknowledge the importance of environmental protection and responsible land stewardship. 

“Yet many in the agricultural community believe the current vegetation clearing and enforcement system has become heavy handed, confusing, inconsistent, and completely disconnected from the realities of farming in Tasmania,” the petition says. 

“Tasmanian farmers are already under increasing pressure from rising costs, biosecurity risks, labour shortages, drought pressures, and growing compliance burdens. Excessive penalties and aggressive enforcement are destroying confidence across regional communities and making farmers feel like they are under attack simply for trying to maintain productive farmland.” 

Petitioners call upon the House to:

• Conduct an urgent independent review into Tasmania's vegetation clearing and land management enforcement framework;

• Ensure penalties are fair and proportionate, particularly where activities relate to ordinary farming practices and land management;

• End the culture of treating hardworking farmers like environmental criminals;

• Acknowledge farmers' fundamental right to farm;

• Ensure future laws and enforcement properly balance environmental protection with food production, regional jobs, private property rights, and the future of Tasmanian farming communities.

The full petition is at:

https://haepetitions.parliament.tas.gov.au/haepet/Home/PetitionDetails/144?title=Petition%20Details