You don't get much for $68 nowadays.
You get about a kilo and a half of Porterhouse steak, or thirty cans of beer or, perhaps, a small tank of fuel for your car.
Except if you are one of a handful of privileged agricultural businesses who get exclusive access to hundreds of acres of public land through grazing licences for just $68 per year. That is the reality of licences crown land on river frontages in Victoria. With the current boom in cattle prices, these businesses are literally making tens of thousands of dollars off the public's grass.
The Victorian Government is currently working on changes to legislation which would allow the public to access this land to camp for recreational purposes. These changes are primarily aimed at helping fisher people - we support them because the principle of public access to public land is fundamental to our interests.
None of these changes would take anything away from these large agricultural businesses - they would simply clarify that a mere $68 a year does not buy you the right to deny the public access to public land. These facts are not stopping the Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) from running a fear campaign against the changes.
Essentially what the VFF are saying is that their members should have the exclusive right to control which members of the public (if any) get access. They have been briefing MP's with a list of alarmist and unfounded statements and, disappointingly (but unsurprisingly) used an online briefing last week to try to throw hunters under the bus - not because there is any genuine relationship between hunting and these proposed changes, and definitely not because their fear mongering has a factual basis - they are doing it simply because it's a lazy and sensationalist way to try to put the wind up MP's.
Where there are genuine concerns about the interactions between recreational users and agricultural businesses on public land they can be managed by regulations. Instead of playing up and amplifying fear and misinformation, the VFF should be working with recreational interests and government to develop workable arrangements to manage public access.
These changes will be before the Victorian Upper House soon and the votes of Crossbench MP's will be crucial.
They have a choice - support the public's right to access public land or kowtow to the fear mongering of a handful of agricultural businesses.
CLICK HERE to lend your voice to public land access.
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