ONCE the premier dairying region of Australia, the Heytesbury settlement located around Simpson in Western Victoria is fast being taken over by plantations.
Earlier this year German insurance company Munich Re announced a plan to invest $200 million into around 10,000 hectares of ‘sustainable forestry’ and the Heytesbury Settlement has been one of the areas it has been targeting.
The German Company has been working in partnership with Australian blue gum growers Midway, and has already purchased the equivalent of around 20 farms in the Simpson area.
The purchase of land for trees doesn’t seem to be slowing down, and there has been interest from other forestry investors to create competition as well.
The local community has so far held two meetings in relation to the buy up, with around 200 locals attending an initial meeting back in March. This meeting was called by Polwarth MP Richard Riordan, and included representatives from Midway explaining their project.
Many who attended felt there was little resolution.
Whilst the blue gum company gave information on their project and stated they wanted to work with neighbouring land holders, the main concerns of the day including the impact on the local community and what was actually being done to minimise effects on neighbouring properties wasn’t satisfactorily addressed.
Locals were assured the rumours that tree companies receive government incentives for converting farm land to trees was untrue.
However, major concern and confusion still surrounds the carbon credit scheme, and how the tree companies are benefiting under that project, and if this allows them to pay a premium for farm land. Otway Silva, a fully owned subsidiary of Munich Re, has registered over 2350 hectares of land in south-west Victoria for carbon credits in the past year.
The second meeting was held in late July and attended by around 150. This meeting had a different focus, with the emphasis on a call for government to step in to halt the buy up. Local Stephen ‘Pappy’ Hunt spearheaded the campaign, and various other speakers on the day highlighted different ideas and concerns.
There was a call for the government to halt further purchases until the impacts of the scheme can be fully investigated.
Local accountant Duncan Morris pointed out something should be done to make farmers more competitive, and offer option for young farmers wanting to invest in dairy.
Wannon MP Dan Tehan turned the focus of the meeting to the approval of the buy up by the Foreign Investment Review Board, (FIRB) and questioned why the community wasn’t consulted before the $200 million scheme was approved.
A petition has been launched for the government to provide information around approval for the $200 million project, see details below.
Another issue which has divided the community is the Corangamite Shire Council’s decision to prevent subdivision of houses off the blocks of land bought for trees. Whilst in theory this might reduce the value of the land to the tree companies, in reality they are still the highest bidders for the land. Therefore, by preventing the houses being sold off, the number of families in the area is being further reduced as those houses are left to disintegrate until they are condemned and demolished.
History of the Heytesbury
The Heytesbury Settlement was established shortly after World War II, and involved the last large scale clearing of native forest in Victoria. Approximately 43,000 hectares was cleared, and the first soldier settlers took up occupation of their farms in 1960. By 1976 there were 378 families settled in the region, on blocks of land approximately 180 acres (72 Hectares) in size.
Today many of the farms are still owned by descendants of the original solider settlers, most of which have bought out neighbouring properties to expand in size. A lot of farms are now the equivalent of two or three original settlement farms, with the average 360 acre farm (2 settlement farms) milking a herd of around 250 dairy cows, or a 540 acre farm (3 settlement farms) milking 350-400 cows.
Each of these farms sustains several families, whether that be multiple family generations, or include paid employees. According to industry standards, one labour unit per 100-125 dairy cows is standard.
So even a small dairy farm of 300 cows will not only be directly sustaining two or three families, the business would also be investing around $1.5 million into local businesses annually.
The families who own farms or who work in the dairy industry in the region, are also an integral part of the community who support the local sporting clubs, kinders and schools.
Petition launched
A petition, noting Stephen ‘Pappy’ Hunt as the chief petitioner, authorised by Mr Tehan has been launched, and had gathered around 1200 signatures by the end of July. The petition is seeking information around the FIRB decision to allow the purchase. The petition states;
Foreign Investment Review Board decisions are meant to be made in the ‘National Interest’.
We call on the federal government to immediately publicly release the conditions the Foreign Investment Review Board placed on Munich Re (the German Superannuation Company) in approving the purchase of $200m in prime agriculture land in south-west Victoria.
We call on the Federal Government to detail what environmental assessment it undertook in approving the wide scale planting of blue gums, including on impacts to the underground water table.
We call on the federal government to provide greater transparency on the size and scale of purchases in the Heytesbury settlement by Munich Re.
And we call on the federal government to detail what community based assessment it undertook specifically with regard to the impact on food production of such a large scale purchase of prime agriculture land.
The link to read more about the petition and sign can be found at bit.ly/4dcMtyq
