Press Release

The newly elected Chairman of the PGA’s Private Property Rights Committee, Gary Peacock has welcomed new Agricultural MLC Jim Chown’s maiden speech pledge on property rights with a warning of many major new issues to come.

“So far, Mr Chown is the only new member of Parliament to pick up on the Liberal Government’s pre-election promises on private property rights,” Mr Peacock said.

“As he stated, Western Australia has 31 separate Acts that have the ability to devalue private property when exercised in the name of public good.”

“There is still absolutely no acknowledgement anywhere in Government at the moment of the need to provide fair compensation to landowners who are affected by “official land theft” for water zoning, planning or conservation.”

Mr Peacock said property owners had yet to see any tangible change in policy on property rights issues since the change in State Government and bureaucrats throughout the Public Service were conducting “business as usual”.

“Even landowners who have been to court and have won cases against the Government, have yet to have those wins acknowledged by the relative departments - and Ministers have also failed to respond to our constant pleas for justice.”

“PGA will be seeking Mr Chown’s assistance, not only on an escalating number of unresolved  high profile property rights issues, but also on a whole raft of serious new impositions flowing from a current review of the Federal EPBC Act.”

“Submissions to the EPBC Review from environmental groups are calling for stricter rules on land clearing, for new permit regimes that will require farmers to get federal approval to change their enterprises, or to manage their property under certain conditions and most seriously for the Federal Act to override State land-use legislation.”

“We are therefore looking forward to working with Mr Chown and Parliamentarians from all parties who are willing to ‘right the many wrongs’ of WA’s complex environmental and planning legislation in the way that it is working against private landowners.”