Land clearing fine reduced

WYANDRA landholder Trent Hindman has had a bittersweet outcome to his appeal against a 2011 land clearing fine of $110,000 when it was heard in a Brisbane district court this week.

His fine was reduced to $30,000 and the judged ruled that there had been no environmental harm and that there had been minimal improvement to the propertys value.

The 43-year-old agronomist and retailer originally pleaded guilty to two charges of carrying out assessable development without a permit contrary to a section of the Integrated Planning Act 1997 when he cleared native vegetation on leasehold land at Alpha station, Wyandra on two occasions, in 2007 and again in 2009.

A dejected Mr Hindman described the decision as rushed and said he had hoped for a more considered opinion that took into account the wider implications of vegetation management laws.

Fair enough, I rushed in and did the development work without a permit, but the judge did the same, he said.

Part of his appeal arsenal was a 51 page report prepared by woodland ecologist Dr Bill Burrows, which he said tore the arguments by the government officers to shreds.

Three specialist reports were submitted at the 2011 court hearing in Charleville by state government botanists, including a biodiversity report undertaken by a desktop assessment.

At the time they were roundly criticised by Property Rights Australia chairman Joanne Rea, who described the $110,000 fine for renovating country degraded by Turkey Bush (Eremophila Gilesii) so that native grasses could be allowed to regrow, as showing the unacceptable activism of some government officers.

Ms Rea this week said the appeal to the original prosecution was a hangover from a dark period in the history of Queensland where landholders had good reason not to trust their own state government.

She said the case again demonstrated the undesirability of the use of desktop studies in prosecutions, and added that the deterrent fine of $30,000 was a large sum of money for most cattle producers.

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Land clearing fine reduced