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Post shared by Andrew Drain

I feel i need to write this in an attempt to try and help some understand why i think the green movement have alot to answer for regarding these fires and the build up of fuel.
This is a complex issue but i will try my best.

They instructed us that the rain was now theirs and it only landed on our lands on the way to their creeks and rivers and into the ocean.
As you can imagine the farmers couldn't understand why we were being denied water to just watch it flow into the oceans

and we all become suspicious of what was going on in these offices.

Next thing you know they started turning up with maps and pink pens and had decided they could now tell you where and what you could do with your land and if they thought it was enviromentally sensitive out come

the pink pen and they just marked the map as a no go zone decided by them with no evedience or consultation needed.

By this time my business and alot of our works been made illegal .We were never offered any compensation and told to "just reinvent yourself "..

Then come the blow of all blows the government decided to dereglate the dairy industry.Within 2 years we had lost over 600 dairies 2 processing facilities and 14 farmers had committed suicide just in this area alone.

This meant that alot of the farming land around here was now unviable to farm and the majority got split up and sold to Sydney hobby farmers. They soon learnt you couldnt afford to maintain the lands without on farm income so the land was left to overgrow with mainly lantana

and other exotic weeds.
There is now thousands of acres of once good productive land covered in this overgrown fire hazard.

This is about the same time the EPA now the department of environment and heritage arrived on the seen. They were my new gate keepers.

Everytime a disgruntled greenie decided i shouldnt be operating a bulldozer they would ring and make an anonymous complaint and out of the office would come an officer.
I always tried to work within the law so we got to know them pretty well and they would turn up claiming

their time had been wasted and we could continue with our works. I was never charged by them.

Until all of the sudden we started getting letters after the visits stating after further investigation they had decided not to take any further action

and i would just be issued with an official warning. When i ask why i was getting an offical warning if i had done nothing wrong i was told don't worry thats just what we have to do.

Then in August 2017 the new liberal state government changed the native vegetation act so back into the department of land and water we went to try and find out the rule changes . We were not at all welcomed and told they didnt agree with the changes and would be implementing a

go slow on any works we wanted to get through for our clients under the new rules. This is exactly what they did to the point my clients would just give up trying.
Again the green agendah had rared its ugly head

Now comes all our favorites the local council..They come up with a great new plan called the E4 Zone that is Enviromental living zone. This was brought in without one bit of consultation with the people and just imposed on peoples lands at councils discretion .

Finally it all come to a head a couple of yaers ago for me .I was clearing lantana from the back boundary of a property and the new ordnance officer from council turned up and informed me i was illegally clearing. He told me this land is now E4 zoned.

At that stage i had never heard of it. I was informed that meant no tracked machines allowed and even if the client wanted to build a cook pen they needed a DA. This was a rural block of 50 acres .
I pointed out it was a boundary between the NPWS land

and was covered in lantana 40 foot up into the trees. I then asked how do we clear it and was told with high powered poison sprayers and it will die and disappear.

I couldnt believe what i was hearing. When i stated if i was fined for this it could possibly put me out of business.
I was told " good "..

Council then fined me for developmental without development concent.

I challenged them in court and without being able to afford representation and the fact they spent over 30 k to make sure i was convicted i was screwed.
Not surprisingly those EPA official warnings turned up and painted me as someone that had had 3 warnings and was a bad boy..

Thankfully the judge seen through their game and wouldn't allow them to increase my fine from 6k to the now 120k they wanted and also only awarded them 1500 towards there court costs stating they would only get what a duty solicitor would get.

But unfortunately couldnt over turn my conviction as i had actually broken their new law. He was not happy with their conduct.

Now this is just my experience in my local area of the Mid North Coast so i dont know if this is national.

But if your wondering how our lands have become so overgrown and have huge fuel loads on them i hope this helps explain my version of what has happened in my area.

Now im not a climate change denier but to allow these departments to hide behind this when in fact they are the biggest offenders for allowing these huge fuel loads is crazy

and if we do not address these government funded departments we will only bring more of the same in the future.

I expect all the abuse i will receive and have broad sholders so fire away.

I'm passionate about our flora and fauna along with our food and water security so please try and understand i was never out to wantingly destroy our country i was just trying my best to help supply the food for the cities like so many of the rural community were and still are.

To try and blame the current PM is just ill advised as it's a state matter anyway that i believe has been aided by these departments and i do believe they should be help responsible for their crazy green agends.

That my friends is how i think the greens have created this situation without ever being in power.

Hope it helps some understand . I know alot won't want to. .lol

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