Townsville landholders have formed a steering committee and are starting a fighting fund, in the wake of news that up to 120,000ha of prime agricultural land is being compulsorily acquired by the Department of Defence.
According to Townsville-based senator Ian Macdonald, the acquisitions from 23 landholders are part of the expansion of Defence Field Training Areas around Townsville.
A similar announcement has rippled through graziers near the Shoalwater Bay training ground north of Rockhampton.
Senator Macdonald said the agreement was another step forward for the $2.5 billion Australia-Singapore Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
“The existing training areas can only accommodate a limited number of troops and it is of critical importance that Australian Defence Force training is not unnecessarily disrupted,” he said.
“Some landholders will very willingly sell their land, but nothing will happen without the proper consultation – and of course compensation.”
If the Member for Kennedy, Bob Katter has anything to do with it, that compensation will come at a very high price.
He said affected landholders had met in Townsville on Sunday and had decided unanimously to stand their ground in opposition to the plan.
“Mr General So-and-So wants to put this huge area right on Townsville’s doorstep.
“I say, don’t put this next to a city, when this land is the only place they can expand to.
“I don’t care what money they’re offered; it won’t remotely compensate them for what those cattlemen have got now – a big saleyards at Charters Towers, and a big abattoir in Townsville.
“This is prime 30 inch rainfall land, right alongside the third biggest river in Australia – we need this land for irrigation.”
The land being acquired is believed to stretch from Hervey Range west to the Burdekin and south to the Flinders Highway.
Mr Katter said a more workable solution would be to take up 200,000ha in the Desert Uplands region on the western side of Pentland, describing it as a cheaper option.
The news of the acquisitions has not pleased Townsville’s Clayton Warren, who said the Turnbull government’s endeavour to strip grazing land from cattlemen and their families was “a perverted act devoid of even the most basic of human principle or compassion”.
“From 1999 to 2011 agricultural land use in Australia has fallen by around 50 million hectares, leaving around 19,000 fewer farmers today than in 2006, a worrying trend for an industry which accounts for around 12% ($53billion) of GDP,” he said.
“Clearly the money of a foreign nation is valued above all else, so why would our government reconsider their actions even though they are contributing to the crippling of a crucial industry already reeling from drought.
“Perhaps what makes this pill all the harder to swallow is the identification of suitable land a couple of hours further west around Pentland.”
In the wake of a meeting in Townsville on Sunday, a landholder steering committee has been formed, consisting of John Brownson, Forest Home; Bob Hicks, Mirambeena; David Nicholas, Payne’s Lagoon; Glenn Spurdle, Linden Hills; and Matt Stanger, Tomato Springs.
Conrad Law has been engaged by the committee to assist with the coordination of its efforts, and a letter will be circulated shortly to all known affected landowners, major affected businesses and other potential supporters.
The letter will request a contribution of $1,000 to a fighting fund.
Former MLA chairman Don Heatley, whose property was forcibly acquired for Defence training in 2011, told Sunday’s meeting it was important to stand as a united body.
Further south, AgForce regional manager Sharon Howard has advised members that the lobby group was working through the issue to decide the best way to handle the situation.
“We have a number of members who do not wish to sell and a number of members who are keen to see the sale happen.”
