Page 5920 - Week 18 - Wednesday, 11 December 1991
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
This was a throwback in evidence before our committee of someone who could talk as John Gale recorded the platypus in this region in his book around the turn of the century. Here was Mr Murdoch Geikie referring to it in the old language that was used by our earlier settlers on the Limestone Plains. I believe that it was an honour to have that gentleman before our committee, and I was humbled to hear from someone of that excellent vintage a very, very green statement about how we should be preserving our waterways and the fauna in them.
Mr Deputy Speaker, I also wish to indicate that the rural lessees need to not be tied up in too much red tape. Even though I have supported a recommendation, at paragraph 10.5, that requires the Government and the lessee to jointly review farm management plans at least every two years to assess performance against the objectives and, as necessary, vary plans to meet changing circumstances, I did that with a degree of reluctance. Frankly, I wonder whether many bureaucrats know a lot about the detailed aspects of farm management. I know that we have excellent people with specialist qualifications in our Parks and Conservation Branch, and they are great people; but nothing beats having to scratch around on a farm to know the capacity of each paddock and the different attributes that each paddock has in terms of sun, run-off and soil capacity.
Some years ago, Mr Deputy Speaker, I did a course in soil agronomy relating to this region. I believe that there are great things to be won out of the rural lands around this Territory in terms of local wines. Those of you who have done the wine circuit around our region - I am not talking about the bars in the city area - know that we can pull some more of that productivity closer in and that we can and should be planting other crops, such as olives, which can come on in years to come.
The Monaro lends itself to very long cropping processes of farming as well as the traditional grazing in other areas where the blocks and the capital infrastructure are not really good enough in most cases, except for the showplaces, to compete with the land around Crookwell and Goulburn.
I believe that there is much to be said for a form of smaller farm on the alluvial areas around the city, and I believe that that should be broadly supported by the conservation movement, even though it is unhappy in principle about hobby farming. I believe that the conservation movement will support it when it realises that there is a growing market for locally produced farm produce in this Territory.
Our health food stores and vegetable markets are increasingly finding it commercially attractive, even though costs are still higher, to advertise locally grown produce, organically grown produce and, in terms of poultry
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .