Put Stanhope out to Pasture

The problem with government is that it’s so easy for them to change the goalposts… unless the public holds them to account.

I say we need more people like the Tullys!

Disclaimer – I know one of band members. But, if I didn’t agree with their perspective, I’d just keep my mouth shut.

No, you all have it wrong – The key is in this line- “The ACT government has instead decided to give the grazing land to a large Sydney company to graze their cattle on….”

They need to think like Government – Simply SELL their cattle to the Sydney company, then LEASE them back – That way, they have access to the cattle, but they are no longer their property and the govmit cant complain. And they can pay for it out of their recurrent budget, and (in the great words of Monty Python) use their capital budget for something else!

Just like any govmit venture…

GnT you’ve got a point about the need for more intensive use of our urban land, but the reality is that moving into green field sites before you’ve fully expolited the existing urban area just dosn’t make sense. We need more dual occupancy and multi-dwelling subdivision within the existing urban areas.

is this what we want for Canberra? Urban bloody infill everywhere?

Ummm … yes?
Cities should be cities, and rural areas rural. Urban infill means less transport (ie less greenhouse gases), sharing of infrastructure, more rates to spend on infrastructure, and more vibrant city centres.

Sure, we all want to be able to see green spaces but large stretches of farm land don’t belong in a city.

Rural lesees in Canberra have been screwed, totally, by the ACT gov’t for years… decades actually.

When they converted all ACT property to what you guys now enjoy, they forgot the rural people, who found themselves leasing their land. So every year, they have to pay land rates, AND rent. This is assessed on the value of the land. Well, you can imagine the on-paper valuation of the land! Whether it’s sensible or viable is another thing. So every year, they have to come up with thousands and thousands. There’s been some horrific stretches. they had series’ of court cases, AAT, High Court, you name it, and eventually got the right to “pay out” their leases. Which meant, paying for their land again.

But not everyone could afford to do that, and I bet the Tully family was one of them.

One of the big fun things with being a rural leasee (you can’t be a rural landowner in the ACT) is that the gov’t can resume all or bits of your land very easily, and they will only pay you for approved improvements: structures. They took back a slice going right through our paddocks decades ago for a pipeline, and we got nothing as they were paddocks. Splits the place in half. Then they took a corner, to widen a road. Paid us to fix the fence. That was it. we lost a bunch of trees and garden, but that wasn’t recognised. They almost extended the airport right over Pialligo a few decades back (that was a fight), put a new road through it… they see the area as not being properly utilised right now.

People like the Tullys are being screwed and they don’t deserve to be.

There’s this other whinging liberal music tossers called the whitlams. Yep, they have as much credence as the tullys arguments.

Ralph, please refrain from giving these people stick. Nice folks, hard working, being screwed by a government that has next to no thought for primary producers in their district.

a quote from Farmer Tully on the You Tube site:

“You can help us by saving your day-old bread for our cows. I have a trailer parked on Coulter Drive that bread and veggies can be left in. There’s a safe spot to pull off the road. I can’t tell you how much my cows appreciate it!”

Come on guys, help feed the cows!! As they say on the video, and you can watch it on You Tube,why don’t we put Mr Stanhope out to pasture instead of the cows!!! I guess no one would leave any bread at all then!!!

Good on the Tullys, making a go of it in tough times!! Should be more of it!

(the music on the video is great too, “The Tullys” band, hear them live at the Belco mall this Sunday. Gloria jean’s 12-2.) and no, this is not a paid ad : )

Support your local farmers, without this one Cook and Weetangera might have gone up in smoke in the big fires!!

Oh, and Ralph, I don’t know if you have ever tried to buy fodder during a drought, but the cost of feeding the cattle for 2 months is more than the value of the cattle.

Which is why they are feeding them alongside the road rather than see them starve.

They don’t want any money, they just want access to grazing land that the local government has taken away from them.

Not quite right Ralph.

All they are asking for is access to the grazing land that the ACT Government has taken off them.

The ACT government has instead decided to give the grazing land to a large Sydney company to graze their cattle on….

Nice support of local industry Stanhope!!

p.s. Don’t worry Ralph – They don’t want you to subsidise them!