Jeff Angel from the Total Environment Centre suggests that with the introduction of the new regulations under the NSW Native Vegetation Act 2003, a high profile prosecution is in order (The Land, November 17, p9).
Indeed, it's not uncommon for governments to make an example of someone when new legislation is introduced. This is perhaps what the Queensland government had in mind when it took on Ashley McKay soon after the Queensland Vegetation Management Act was introduced in 1999.
It is folklore in western Queensland that the bureaucrats decided to prosecute the softly spoken cattleman because he appeared on the current affairs program Sixty Minutes, speaking out against the legislation. Mr McKay had recently cleared trees under a general clearing permit. But soon after the television appearance, government officers arrived at his property wanting to know why he had also cleared commercial cypress pine. They claimed the cypress was not covered by the original permit and that he should have also got a permit from the Forestry Department.
Mr McKay has been in and out of court about a dozen times since that visit. At issue was whether or not the original permit permitted the clearing of commercial cypress and whether or not it would have been commercially viable to harvest the cypress.
I waded through the 77-page court decision handed down in August last year. It seemed to me McKay had lost big time as he was found guilty on all charges and fined $270,000. Some weeks later I heard he was going to appeal the decision, I thought he was nuts. But last month Queensland's District Court upheld the Appeal and reduced the charge from $270,000 to $10,000. I was amazed.
This judgment determined that clearing would have been impossible had it been limited to named species and excluded cypress pine and, further, it would not have been feasible to commercially harvest the cypress.
Thousands of landholders are currently being investigated for illegal clearing in Queensland. The advice has been if government decides to prosecute, plead guilty because the bureaucracy will show no mercy if you take a stand.
Ashley McKay was proof of that. He fought six court cases over the original charge of illegally clearing cypress pine, and with every win, government appealed. The rumour is the Queensland Government will not appeal this time. It looks like he may have finally beaten the bureaucrats.
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