Editor , Dear Sir / Madam, Peter Spencer`s hunger strike is an explanation of how Australian farmers have been duped by both Liberal and Labor by trading off 90 million hectares of farmland, encapturing 87 million tonnes of carbon worth $10.8 billion, and failing to tell the owners that their timbered land was used as a collatoralised carbon sink swap to appease the International Kyoto Agreement. The idea for world wide scare tactics on global warming was conceived at the U.N. 1992 Rio de Janero Agenda 21 Conference attended by 174 nations. Ros Kelly, Minister for Environment of `white board` fame signed this Agenda 21 Agreement on behalf of the Labor Government, and later it was ratified by Robert Hill and John Howard in 1997 of the Liberal Government. In simple terms it was easier and cheaper to stop farmers clearing vegetation than going to heavy industries and energy producers asking them to pay a carbon emmission tax. After all, there are only about 70,000 farmers left in Australia scattered across about 500 Shires. The first farmers knew about reductions of tree clearing was in 1995 when SEPP 46 was launched. What farmers did not know then was that previously at the 1994 Coag conference a plan was orchestrated to trade off farmers rights to clear land to satisfy the Kyoto protocols . When the government found out that Sepp 46 had no force in law because it was a regulation, they then created a Native Vegetation Act in 1997. Section 38 of this Veg Act was to also stop people clearing trees but the Government soon found out this Veg Act too was an unenforcable law because L.G. controls land. So, what do governments do when their legislation is blocked. In this case they prevailed on naive and ill-informed local councillors with threats not sign their LEP unless they forfeit land clearing controls to another body. In this case, the other body was the Catchment Management Authority (CMA). In an unprecedented move, the States offered each Council $60,000 to do it the States way. This State way method, now ready for legislation, dictates the CMA as the sole authority to clear land. In one fell swoop, 167 years of L.G. control of land will be wiped out in favour of an unelected body, the CMA. This $60,000 offer to Councils though had strings attached worthy of any Mafia deal. It says either Council agree to give authority to CMA for land clearing or the Minister will not sign any council`s future LEP. Most councils have capitulated to this blackmail offer and in doing so, have sacrified their planning autonomy . So, Peter Spencer`s hunger strike gives an explanation of the Kyoto deal to export coal, the lies told to Australian farmers, and the pressure placed on local councils. To explain further, Peter Spencer explains how the Feds carefully structured this trade off deal through the States. The States however have conveniently not recognised any compensation laws. If this Kyoto clause had been signed off through the Federal system, the Feds would have had to pay compensation by way of the well recognised Constitutional `Just Terms` compensation law, (Section 51--31). Doing it this way, nobody told the farmers and nobody paid the farmers. At the next election these same pollies will want our vote. Thomas Jefferson of the America once said, `When people fear governments you have anarchy, and only when the government fear the people will you have democracy.` We should all salute Peter Spencer for telling the world how Australian Federal and State politicians cleverly stole 90 million hectares of freehold land and didn`t not pay a cent for it. Bevan O'Regan
"Moema"
Narrabri
NSW 2390
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