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CRAIG COMMENTS |
Supporting cattlemen
I have been fortunate to have ridden horses, chased brumbies and four-wheel-drived in the Alpine area in both NSW and Victoria and many of my favourite places are in the Alpine National Park.
I have shared campfires with individuals and their families who have lost their licences and I believe that I understand their loss, which is as much about a loss of lifestyle and family heritage as it is about the economics.
The decision to totally ban grazing from the Alpine National Park will be absolutely devastating to the traditions, the heritage and way of life for the individuals, their families and the communities of Gippsland and the North East.
The State Government's behaviour through this decision has been disappointing. Over the past five and a half years, I have been working with the cattlemen in relation to the Caledonia fires, where the return of grazing access was denied on the basis of extremely suspect science, which was again used as the government's justification for its post-Alpine fire decision to restrict access for 10 years.
Parks Victoria and the alpine ecology scientists used the Caledonia and Alpine fires and science as a brutal weapon against grazing to gain a predetermined outcome. After the Caledonia fire, the benchmarks for bare ground and regrowth were arbitrarily set at unobtainable levels. To rub salt into the wounds, the costs of this research has all been appropriated against the cost of managing the grazing licenses.
You could almost anticipate the salivating as the Alpine fires whipped across the grazing areas allowing the current blanket exclusion for 10 years.
The government's backbench taskforce provided the ammunition that the government wanted and the disgraceful and misleading propaganda campaign that has followed has shown absolute contempt for the licence holders and their families.
The government seems to think that the history and heritage of the cattlemen and their families can be brought for a few pieces of silver in compensation. The government's line that “parks are for the people” is sounding fairly weak when all that governments and Parks Victoria have done during the past decades is lock people out.
I will be riding side by side with the licensees and their supporters at the Melbourne rally on Thursday to support the cattlemen and their families and I encourage those who are prepared to make the effort to attend.
