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Axeman the target in fight for wetlands
December 6, 2003
The Government is taking on the state's wheat king in a bid for green kudos, writes Stephanie Peatling.
Ron Greentree knew how to swing an axe, and proved it as world champion. His son, Ron jnr, has proved a deft hand himself - as a finalist at the Royal Easter Show and vice-president of the NSW Axeman's Association. But it is the son's skills with tractors and bulldozers that have him in the Federal Government's sights. Cutting down trees and replacing them with wheat has made Mr Greentree a wealthy man and a powerful lobbyist as chairman of the Grain Growers' Association and the state's largest grain handler, Graincorp. But it is 100 hectares of wetlands near Moree that will concentrate the mind of the southern hemisphere's biggest private wheat farmer when he and five others face the Federal Court on Tuesday, accused of deliberately razing the area illegally earlier this year. The Government's action is seen by some as risky, while Mr Greentree's lawyers argue that it would be ridiculous to allow good land to go to waste, particularly at a time when farmers are being crippled by one of the state's worst droughts. "My jaw dropped wide open," said the barrister and environmental law expert Chris McGrath when he first heard of the case. "The Federal Government and the Environment Minister [David Kemp] have gone into the lions' den to take on a high-profile NSW wheat farmer when they haven't taken any action against farmers before." Instead of trying to prosecute small-time offenders one at a time and then moving on to larger operators, Mr McGrath says, the Government has gone straight for the big time. "They didn't try to crawl first, they just started sprinting." The case is the first of its kind and has taken over a year to put together. If found responsible, Mr Greentree could face a fine of up to $550,000 and his companies could be fined up to $5.5 million. A win for the Government would give it environmental kudos as it looks for green credentials before a probable election next year. There have been mutterings about Ron Greentree in environmental circles for years and he is being investigated by the NSW Department of Planning, Infrastructure and Natural Resources for alleged land-clearing offences on other properties. But it is the 100 hectares of land, in a corner of a property called Windella, which the Federal Government believes can help it make a bold statement - restore the cleared wetlands. It is one of four sections of wetlands in the Gwydir region recognised as internationally significant under the Ramsar Convention, the first inter-governmental treaty established to protect natural resources. All four lie on private property and were in such good condition that they were listed in 1999 with the co-operation of the existing landowners. Windella is now owned by the Greentree family's complicated structure of companies. When Jeanette Schwarz, an investigator with the federal Environment Department, visited the area in October last year, the signs of the drought were not devastating. When she returned last July, she estimated that about 99 per cent of the site had been razed. "There was virtually no vegetation cover any more," she told the Federal Court in August. "It indicated to me that the area had been ploughed . . . virtually the whole Ramsar wetlands has been cleared and ploughed." An application for an injunction preventing any further work from being done on Windella's wetlands was fought by Mr Greentree's barrister, Stuart Littlemore, QC, who argued there could be problems with invasive weeds. Controlling the weeds would require pesticides, he said, possibly damaging the waterway. Since the land had been cleared, there was little benefit in preserving an area that could be put to good agricultural use. "To put it in a nutshell, the damage is done," Mr Littlemore said. "If one assumes everything against my client, then the lesser of the two evils is to let them go on cultivating the land [so] at least there won't be any weeds." But Ms Schwarz believes the wetlands can be resuscitated if they are left alone. If wheat was grown it "would actually limit the capacity of native plants to regenerate and re-establish on that site". Four days have been set aside for the case, beginning on Tuesday. It is believed that Mr Greentree will not give evidence. He was travelling and could not be contacted, the Grain Growers Association said. Mr Littlemore did not return calls. Mr McGrath believes the case will "fundamentally and radically change the environmental law system" because it establishes a federal obligation to act when there is evidence of wilful environmental damage. |
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