They say you don't become a local until you've lived in the same place for 10 years, maybe even 20.
So as a farmer, how long do you have to wait before you get the final say on your land?
I'm the fourth generation on my family's property, Garthowen.
To some it might just be a giant piece of dirt but it's a farm that's been synonymous with our family name for the last 76 years.
My dad currently runs trade and stud cattle on the 5000 acres.
His father, Aubrey, decided to defy the Hereford and Poll Hereford genetics of the district and brought the first Zebu cattle into Boompa, later establishing a Droughtmaster stud.
My great-grandfather, John, took the biggest risk of all and purchased the property that's now sparked a lifetime legacy my family couldn't imagine being without.
If there is one thing that I've learnt since working in rural news, it's that none of that matters.
It doesn't matter that my family own the land in which they live. It doesn't matter if they own the assets that make up their business. It doesn't matter if they have no debt owing to anyone.
Their opinion, as landholders, could be invalid one day.
Producers near Gympie are currently battling Powerlink, which could potentially place a corridor of high voltage power lines right through agricultural land.
One of those people impacted is Rod Cotter who told Queensland Country Life he couldn't understand how a project could potentially be built on his land without his family having a say.
"It's been in my family's name for generations and all of a sudden, people can just do what they want on it. It just blows me away really," he said.
It was just a few months ago when Netherdale residents learnt their land was in the firing line of the world's largest pumped hydro project on the same day the media did, during a press conference with the Premier.
Fifty-four houses and 79 land parcels over 937 hectares could be underwater or impacted by infrastructure by 2035 if the Pioneer-Burdekin Pumped Hydro Project goes ahead.
Let's not forget the Shoalwater Bay land grab just a few years ago or the land clearing laws that seem to change as frequently as the channels on free to air television.
The current EU Green Deal is the latest complex layer of uncertainty facing producers. And there is always gas and mining developments lingering too.
I could keep going, but you get the point.
When you go to a supermarket and buy a piece of fruit, you earn the right to choose what happens to it.
When the waiter at a restaurant asks if you want drinks, you're allowed to say no.
So why don't landowners get the same respect?
Why is 'no' not a justifiable reason?
It scares me to think that in another 76 years Garthowen might not be how it is now.
Just like me and you, those landowners who are now facing those battles probably never thought something like this would happen to them.
To them it feels like they've been drawn out of a hat, the unlucky tributes.
Nobody knows what the future holds but isn't it about time the opinions of the rightful owners of the land was taken into account? What more do we need to do?
- Talk of the Town is a weekly opinion piece written by ACM journalists. The thoughts expressed are their own.
Lucy Kinbacher
Raised on a cattle property at Biggenden, Lucy Kinbacher has spent 10 years working across metropolitan, regional and rural publications in both Queensland and NSW. Lucy has been the editor of the Queensland Country Life and North Queensland Register since 2021.
Raised on a cattle property at Biggenden, Lucy Kinbacher has spent 10 years working across metropolitan, regional and rural publications in both Queensland and NSW. Lucy has been the editor of the Queensland Country Life and North Queensland Register since 2021.
