Mark McGuffie, whose property abuts the Bunyip State Park, is outraged that government departments won’t pay half his fencing costs despite owning land next door. 31622 Picture: Meagan Rogers
By Melissa Grant
IT’S not the rowing couple or noisy teenagers next door, but government departments that are the worst neighbours.
That’s the summation of Labertouche North farmer Mark McGuffie who has forked out $300,000 for more than 12 kilometres of fencing in the wake of the Black Saturday bushfires, and has discovered that his neighbours – the State Government and Baw Baw Shire – won’t foot half the bill.
“We’ve had to replace the fencing at our own costs and the various government departments, as they are your neighbours, anyone would presume they would contribute 50 per cent,” he said.
“I’ve spent $300,000 on fencing and I estimate they owe me $150,000.
“The government departments, whether they are local or state, are the worst neighbour because they won’t contribute to the cost.”
Mr McGuffie, whose property borders the Bunyip State Park, said six politicians, including State Minister for Agriculture Joe Helper, visited Labertouche the Wednesday after the firestorm and agreed that landholders would need help with the costs of repairing boundary fences.
But most haven’t returned Mr McGuffie’s calls regarding the matter since.
“They all stood there on the Wednesday and said ‘we have to help the farmers’, since then none of them want to comment except Russell Broadbent (McMillan MP) and Gary Blackwood (Narracan MP) – and they’re the Opposition.” They said, and I quote, ‘they cannot be left with the financial burden to reinstate these boundaries’.”
“(Now) the Victorian Government will not even sit down and talk about it.
“This is going to break us, make no mistake.”
The Fences Act does not apply to unoccupied Crown land or land occupied by the Crown, meaning that farmers with land bordering state forests or reserves have to meet the full cost of constructing and repairing fences.
Mr McGuffie said it was outrageous that government departments “copped out” of the Fences Act.
“If you have any other neighbour they go 50/50 and yet the government is the biggest business going around,” he said.
“When they’re talking about a $40 million royal commission, it’s really nothing in the scale of things.”
Mr McGuffie said people whose fences were burnt out in the Black Saturday fires weren’t looking for Bushfire Appeal Funds.
“In all fairness, I don’t think it should come from that,” he said.
A Baw Baw Shire Council spokeswoman said the council was supporting landholders to rebuild boundary fencing.
She said the council had been working closely with the Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) which has provided a fencing co-ordinator to direct volunteers to rebuild boundary fencing, with about 88 kilometres of fencing already constructed.
The council had also co-ordinated two fencing field days to assist landholders to develop new skills in fence construction and was also assisting farmers to access grants, she said.
A State Government spokesman said the government had made assistance grants of up to $25,000 and low interest loans of (3.2 per cent p.a.) of up to $200,000 for landholders directly affected by the fires.
He confirmed that Federal Minister for Agriculture Tony Burke, Deputy Leader in the Legislative Assembly Peter Walsh, Mr Broadbent and Mr Blackwood all met with Mr McGuffie on the Wednesday after Black Saturday.
“The Brumby Labor Government recognises that the landholder in question is in a unique situation, given the shape of his landholding, and the length of his fence that borders crown land,” the spokesman said.
He said while the Government was working on ways to assist landholders affected by the firestorm, the Fences Act worked both ways.
“If the government wants to build a fence, we can’t sting the neighbouring private landholder for half.”
