Bundarrah Days

"I'll confront them in the bush and in court."

The secret is out today. The 170 year old mountain cattle tradition in Victoria's Alpine National Park is not over despite the State Government's attempt to ban it.

The Age newspaper has revealed today that my grazing licence is not due to expire until the end of the next gazing season and that an error in the legislation banning grazing in the park means it cannot be applied to my licence. In other words I have an entitlement for a new seven year licence to graze my traditional runs.

You can read it online at The Age website: www.theage.com.au under the national news heading.

The battle to save a magnificent Australian heritage and culture is far from over. When we return cattle to the Bogong High Plains this December we want as many fellow Aussies who love our bush heritage to be there with us and make history.

Past generations of Australians would condemn the Bracks Government and if they could vote in the elections next November Steve Bracks would be no more than a bad memory, an aberration, a hypocrite who claimed to be protecting the alpine environment while presiding over its destruction by wildfire and by granting permanent residency to a feral pest like deer.

What kind of arrogance is it when a government with a maximum shelf life of around 10 years assumes it can wipe out a cultural heritage of nearly two centuries with one piece of ill advised legislation? And what kind of incompetence is it when they can't even get the legislation right?

I've been asked what might happen if the government attempts to correct the legislation by amending it. That would amount to legislating to annihilate the rights of an individual, something that governments in Australia are loathe to do. It's against Parliamentary convention. Governments are there to govern for the people. If they legislated against an individual no-one's rights would be safe. At that point the battlefield would expand with many other groups joining the fight.

Here is the text of The Age story.

By Orietta Guerrera
June 30, 2006

THIS summer, Anglers Rest cattleman Phil Maguire will lead more than 100 cattle to graze in the Alpine National Park's Bogong High Plains.

Mr Maguire, possibly the last man standing in the push to keep the 170-year tradition of alpine grazing alive, says he is legally entitled to do so.

Last year the State Government announced that it was banning grazing in Victoria's biggest national park, with the last of the grazing licences believed to expire today.

But just when the controversy over the decision appeared to have passed, Mr Maguire claims a bureaucratic blunder means his licence will not expire until next year.

And he says he has received legal advice that suggests the wording of last year's legislation leaves open the possibility of another seven-year licence.

"We're certainly not going to sit back and see Australian heritage die," Mr Maguire said yesterday.

"I'm going to fight it to the very end, and if that means a confrontation with (Premier) Steve Bracks and (Environment Minister) John Thwaites, then so be it.

"I'll confront them in the bush and in court."

In February 1993, Mr Maguire had a seven-year licence granted to the estate of his great-uncle Charlie McNamara, whose property he took over, transferred to his name. In 1999, one year before that licence was to expire, Parks Victoria renewed his licence for another seven years.

Mr Maguire argues that the seven-year licence issued in 1999 did not come into effect until the first licence expired in 2000.

"I was entitled to two seven-year licences, the first one and then the second — 1993 to 2006 is only 13 years," he said. "So it has next year to run, and when this licence expires, I'll be applying for a new seven-year licence, and if it's not issued, we'll be returning to the Supreme Court."

But government spokesman Martin Curtis yesterday said last year's ban applied to all licences.

"We understand that that's Mr Maguire's version, but the fact is the legislation states that all licences will expire on June 30 this year," he said.

The State Government says that it has been scientifically proven that cattle have damaged the park. Since announcing the grazing ban, it has begun environmental work — restoring alpine bogs and removing pests and weeds — in the hope of boosting tourism in the area.

Mr Thwaites has stood by the Government's stance.

"The unique environment in the Alpine National Park is being restored and protected, while the tradition of grazing continues in the state forests," he said.

"The overwhelming majority of graziers have moved on, accepting transition payments, with many still able to graze in the state forest."

Trevor Davis, manager of Tom Groggin Station — whose licence expires today — said the ban had made the 877-hectare property unviable.

The number of cattle on the property in north-east Victoria had to be halved, and the owner was looking at options such as tourism and subdivision for housing to supplement the farm income.

"It's devastating," Mr Davis said.

The Liberal Party has vowed to overturn the ban if it wins government in November.

What goes round comes round as they say and for Victorian Labor MP, Carolyn Hirsh, never a truer word was spoken.

Mrs Hirsch has just been landed with her second drink driving offence following on from other offences including driving while disqualified.

For the second time in as many years she has been forced to resign from the ALP and is back to independent status as an MP. Whether she works again seems doubtful as she is now under psychiatric care after becoming hysterical when police nabbed her at Ringwood East last week.

As an individual I don't mind Carolyn Hirsh, although when I first encountered her I reckoned she was a classic witch.

It was 1985 and the infamous Nunawading re-election scandal was at its height. The re-election was held because the vote for the seat was tied and on the result hinged control of Victoria's Upper House. Labor was poised to control it for the first time in history.

At the time the only thing saving Mountain Cattlemen from eviction was Opposition control of the Upper House so it was a do or die situation.

The Mountain Cattlemen's Association (MCAV) decided to take to the streets of the electorate on horseback in support of the Liberal Party candidate, Rosemary Varty, and at the end of the day caused a telling 10,000 vote turn around which snatched defeat from the jaws of victory for the ALP.

I had been involved in the Cattlemen's campaign and on the day of the re-election I was handing out how-to-vote cards at a polling booth when a bloke with a camera turned up and started taking pictures of me and others working on behalf of the cattlemen. When challenged he claimed he was a photographer for The Age newspaper.

I smelled a rat and wandered up to his car, peered in and spied a pile of ALP how-to-vote cards. He spotted me and rushed over aggressively with a couple of mates. Of course, there was a fight and being young, strong and fit, I won, the photographer fled in his car and his mates rushed off down the street.

I had no idea who they were until about six weeks later when the Government (ALP) whip in the Upper House, Cyril Kennedy, stood up and claimed under Parliamentary privilege that I had violently assaulted him and his mates, a union official called Peter Parkinson and the husband of the then Minister for Conservation, Kay Setches.

It was all over the media. I was accused of being a liberal infiltrator in the Mountain Cattlemen's Association, of posing as a Mountain Cattleman and deceiving voters. It was laughable.

But it didn't stop there. Mrs Hirsch joined with the whip who had been cracked by the cattleman and demanded that the police chase me up, investigate Mr Kennedy's claims and charge me. I also made the front page of the Labor Star newspaper courtesy of a grubby little man called Peter Batchelor who is our present Minister for Transport. (Mr Batchelor had actually distributed fake how to vote cards to ALP volunteers on the morning of the election and despite the recommendation of the police escaped without being charged with any offences under the electoral act.)

I was subsequently contacted by a couple of detectives who interviewed me at a police station for some hours and then told me not to worry. The police also smelled a rat and it wasn't me.

Meanwhile, I was still being pursued under privilege by Mrs Hirsch, Mr Kennedy and the then Minister for The Arts, a pompous old queen named Race Mathews.

A couple of months later it all settled down and the police handed a report to the state government with a recommendation that copies be made to available to everyone who had been investigated or slated under privilege. But the report, which was laden with criticisms of the government, was hidden in the deepest vaults of Spring Street.

Three years later, much to my surprise, I found myself working at Parliament House as senior advisor to the National Party leader. Carolyn Hirsh was still there and I would see her occasionally wandering around the place. At the Christmas Party that year she demanded that I dance with her.

"After what you had to say about me?" I asked in surprise.

"Oh, come on Phil, that's politics," she said. So we had a dance and a drink and for a time politics was forgotten.

A couple of months later that secret police report landed on my desk and from there made its way to the front page of The Herald.

It wasn't very kind to either Mrs Hirsh or Minister Setches. I spotted them, teary eyed and comforting one another on a couch in a parliamentary corridor. As I walked past I said: "Don't worry about it girls - it's only politics."

Life goes on and since then it hasn't been particularly easy for either myself or Carolyn Hirsh. My family and I have been battling to survive Labor politics in the bush ever since and Mrs Hirsh's daughter committed suicide in 2001 leaving her scarred and depressed.

I wish her well for the future but I hope she does the right thing for the community and resigns from Parliament immediately instead of taking an extended sick leave and not contesting the next election.

A by-election in Mrs Hirsh's rural seat of Silvan seat will see Mountain Cattlemen and Country Voice campaigning with vigour and provide a good guide to our chances of unseating Hymie Bracks in November.

After her efforts in 1985 I reckon Carolyn Hirsh owes Mountain Cattlemen a favour.

What's the bet though that the ALP will exert pressure on Mrs Hirsh to take the sick leave option. The last thing the Hymie wants is a by-election only a few months out from a state election.

On July 15 there is a public meeting in Mansfield on alpine grazing where members of the state government will be asked to explain and elaborate on their reasons for ending this 171 year old tradition.

I have suggested that these politicians be offered the chance to make an affirmation that they will tell the truth. If they make the affirmation and tell lies they will stand condemned. If they refuse to make an affirmation the meeting will be aware that what it is hearing is not necessarily the truth.

Unfortunately I've been told that this proposal is a little "artificial." I disagree. If it's good enough for me to undertake to tell the truth to a court or even to a Senate Inquiry I don't see what's wrong with asking politicians to guarantee their veracity to a public meeting.

What do you think?

The former Director of the Victorian National Parks Association, Doug Humann, now with the green "Bush Heritage Fund" does not think it is productive to compare the impact of deer against that of cattle in the Alpine National Park, even though on his own admission he is not an expert on deer.

Mr Humann told the Senate Inquiry into National Parks that it was a great thing for the high country of Victoria that cattle have been removed.

"Whilst cattle can have a minimal impact in some areas they have a monumental impact in the high areas and the high country of Victoria, around the mossy riparian zones and the high altitude grasslands," he said.

But true to his usual form Mr Humann didn't bother to discuss stocking rates so I guess we're left to assume that even one cow in the high country is too many when it comes to protecting the environment.

Of course Mr Humann also appealed to 40-50 years of scientific research to back-up his claim but we all know about the science of the greens - that's the science that has resulted in the devastation of Victoria's national parks by wildfire. But here's the real rub. How can you apply science that is 40 or 40 years old to alpine grazing today - how can you say that the impacts of the 3160 cattle that grazed the Bogongs in 2005 is the same as the impact of the 18,000 that grazed the same area in 1945?

The fact is that the science Mr Humann appeals to is not applicable to alpine grazing in the 21st century.

To give him his due Mr Humann did acknowledge that deer were a problem throughout the high country even though he lacks the expert status he claims for himself concerning cattle.

One might well ask what Mr Humann was doing during his term with the Victorian National Parks Association (VNPA). While I was out and about in the mountains witnessing the invasion of sambar deer he obviously had his head down and his tail up lobbying furiously for my eviction. Greens like Mr Humann can't see the forest for the trees.

Nevertheless, he's true to form. His old organisation the VNPA doesn't mind deer either. Only last year a prominent VNPA member informed the media that there was no scientific evidence that deer caused damage in the alps. That there is such evidence (for example from the NSW Statutory Scientific Committee) obviously escaped his attention, but even if there was a lack of scientific evidence the witness of ones own eyes is reliable enough.

The problem still remains. Uncontrolled numbers of feral deer and a hit and miss approach to management which aims to preserve and enhance the deer hunting experience only serve to highlight the hypocrisy of the Victorian Government, its land managers and green activists like Mr Humann.

It will do nothing to conserve the precious environment of the Victorian Alps.

Less than half the control burning schedule for Victorian public land before this winter has been carried out.

Only 49,293 hectares has been set alight by the Department of Sustainability and Environment under its fuel reduction program in contrast to the target of 130,000 hectares.

And to make matters worse it appears the Bracks Government has been trying to cover up its failure by lying. DSE's website was claiming yesterday that 110,000 hectares had been burnt so far this this year. The misleading figures were removed yesterday after the State Opposition exposed them.

Here is proof that DSE and Parks Victoria are tragically incompetent land managers and that both need complete restructuring and greater funding. The failure to carry out the prescribed burning could also have a great deal to with tensions and disagreements within the two organisations.

Country people have suspected for some years now that there is an unwritten policy within the conservation bureacracy that prefers periodic wildfires fed by incredible fuel build-ups rather an a regularly prescribed annual burning regimen.

This is the policy that has resulted in the destruction of vast areas of Victorian public land and national parks since 2003. The radical green bureaucrats responsible should be sacked, or if that's not possible, moved to public service departments not related to the environment.

What is the agenda of the Bracks Government?

First of all we have Hymie Bracks defending the disreputable branch stacker, George Seitz. And now we have Khalil Eideh, an apparent pro-jihadist Syrian, admirer of the Syrian dictator, Assad, pre-selected for a safe Victorian Upper House seat.

I'm not going to ask to be excused for stating categorically that in my estimation any Australian government that includes this bloke has lost its legitimacy. Bracks is the road to becoming irrelevant.

You'd hope that Victorians will decide on November 26 this year that Hymie Bracks and his unsavoury mates are on the nose and should be unceremoniously turfed.

Yesterday I appeared before the Senate Environment, Communications, IT and The Arts Comittee's Inquiry into the management of National Parks.

I was invited to make a five minute presentation in support of my submission which was followed by half an hour of questions from the Senators.

Below is the text of my address.

Once upon a time in Australia there was the bush. Now there are National Parks.

Once upon a time the cry rang out to "unlock the land." And with the passing of the selection acts began a great pioneering agricultural enterprise.

Now the chorus is "lock up the land." Forget about it, let it burn as it never burned before and leave the scarred landscape to be preyed upon by noxious weeds and feral animals.

Once National Parks were representative areas that were intended to preserve what was in the face of encroaching settlements.

Now they incorporate entire geographical features such as the whole of the Australian Alps.

Once National Parks were for all the people, rangers were interested in community relations, land was reasonably well managed and all user groups were respected.

Now the parks are more and more the domain of exclusionist groups who assert rights over and above those of ordinary Australians by winning the ear of governments, by politicking and by promoting pseudo-science. Now rangers are law enforcement officers only too ready to pull out the book and read visitors their rights. Now the parks are ill managed, nay neglected, and in the case of Victoria many are burned beyond recognition.

Once upon a time the Alpine National Park around Anglers Rest where I hail from looked like Australia. Now, after the 2003 fires it looks like the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and will never again, never, be as it was.

Once upon a time the human history and heritage of National Parks was celebrated. Now it is ignored and on the way to being forgotten.

I ask you Senators, what kind of society is it that neglects the achievements of its sons and daughters, that blackens the memory of the pioneers who created the nation we profess to be proud of?

It's often said that landscape is an inspiration. So it is. Life and human endeavour are also inspiring. The lives of Victoria's Mountain Cattlemen have long provided an inspiration to many Australians, not because we ourselves are anything special as individuals but because we have lived a life that many of our countrymen would seek to live given the opportunity. That's one reason why so many of us have run tours on the side, to give those people a taste of a life they admire and have not had the opportunity to live.

The heritage and culture of the Mountain Cattlemen has been, until now, vibrant and alive. It has been a source of inspiration for creative Australians for generations starting with bush balladists such as A.B. Paterson and Barcroft Boake through to writers such as Elyne Mitchell, filmmakers such as Geoff Burrows, George Miller and Simon Wincer, composers such as Bruce Rowland, famous artists including Louis Buvelot and in our day Kevin Best and John Duncan Firth.

The heritage of the high country is a priceless asset. Australians love it and that's why the sale of the Snowy Scheme had to be abandoned.

What is yet to be abandoned and must be is the eviction of the mountain cattlemen. A year ago this month the Bracks government decided to evict Mountain Cattlemen from the Alpine National Park severing a link that extends back to before the founding of the Colony of Victoria and destroying in one fell swoop a lifestyle which has inspired countless creative Australians, both famous and unknown. If the government is allowed to get away with it an irreplaceable source of inspiration and creativity will be lost forever.

Why was this done? Allegedly on conservation grounds. 8000 well managed cattle present in the park for approximately 16 weeks each year with a grazing pressure of approximately one beast per 100 ha over only 10 to 15 per cent of the park were deemed to be destroying a priceless natural asset. But this was a practice that had been going on since 1835, for much of that time with far higher stocking rates than in 2005. Yet, even the pseudo-science of the agitators who engineered our removal could not find a single floral or faunal species that had become extinct as a consequence of grazing.

There have been wise men in our history who have listened to the voice of the bush and given it credibility over and above that of urban based land managers who rarely leave the office.

One of those was Judge Leonard Stretton, the 1939 bushfire Royal Commissioner.

Dr Tom Griffiths, the Senior Fellow and Convenor of the Graduate Program in History at the Australian National University has said in reflecting on Judge Stretton's commission:

"I am fascinated by how well bush settlers understood the distinctive ecology of the ash (forests) in the 1930s. In the Royal Commission we see a struggle between different forms of knowledge: between the folk knowledge of forest workers (who had to live with fire and ash) and the imported understandings of educated urban people (many of whom still hoped to eliminate fire entirely from Australian forests). Judge Stretton, proud of his own rural affiliations, does what he can to empower the voice of the bush."

As far as the Bracks Government is concerned the era of alpine grazing is over. Urban experts are in, bushmen are out. Mountain Cattlemen are a thing of the past. If our latter day squatters, the greens, have their way it won't be long before horse riders and most other user groups are also only a memory. This has already happened in much of Kosciuzko. The alps are to be the domain of bushwalkers, feral deer, wild dogs and cats, foxes, goats, pigs, European wasps, blackberries, sweet briar, English Broom and myriad other introduced pests.

It's instructive, though, that while the Bracks Government paid lip service to conservation by scapegoating Mountain Cattlemen they have concluded a concordat with the Australian Deer Association to perpetuate the presence of a real feral pest in the Alpine National Park. Up to 200,000 destructive deer have been granted permanent residency and are welcome to wallow in the environmentally critical and delicate moss beds of the alps and browse freely in alpine environments struggling to recover from devastating fires. Parks Victoria is even going to work with the ADA to improve habitat for this feral pest. Only last week they announced the appointment of three game wardens to oversee hunting activities. Yet, in NSW feral deer have been declared a key threatening species.

The sheer hypocrisy of the Bracks Government in the management of National Parks is manifestly obvious. The tragedy is that the parks are the victim. Mr Bracks talks about a new start for the Alpine National Park. That new start is on indefinite hold until he and his government are held to account for the charred, neglected and tragic landscape of much of Victoria's parks.