Farmers promised speedier action

Wellington Catchment Area feature article discusses a promise by the Minister for Works, Mr. O'Connor at a meeting in Collie recently, to speed up the time taken to process clearing applications in the Wellington Dam catchment area. The meeting was organised by the Wellington Action Committee sponsored by the Pastoralists and Graziers Association, with more than 60 farmers attending. The 1976 amendments to the WA Country Areas Water Supply Act means clearing restrictions were applied to the 36,000 hectares (89,000 acres) of uncleared catchment area. The amendments made it mandatory to obtain a licence before clearing indigenous bush or other growth in the catchment area. The Action Committee sought a three-month limit on the processing time for clearing applications with provision that if no reply was received in this time, the farmer could proceed with the proposed clearing regardless. Mr. O'Connor said that any mandatory limit such as that proposed could work against farmers. If departmental officers had not completed assessment their most likely reaction would be a refusal to meet the time limit, Mr. O'Connor said. Further discussion between the Committee and Ministers of applications and regulations, compensation and farmers unrest and worry about the catchment's future. This article contains two photographs; one of Mr. E. Harley of Noggerup; Minister for Works, Mr. Ray O'Connor; Mr. Ian Sherry of Cardiff; and Mr. Vic Ferry, MLC., one photograph of the seated audience attending the meeting. Photographer credits to Joe Wheeler. PLEASE NOTE: We are unable to provide a public view of this newspaper article as the copyright is held by the publisher of The Countryman. If you would like to obtain a copy of this newspaper article for research purposes, please ‘request a copy'. This article is part of the WISALTS (Whittington Interceptor Sustainable Agriculture Land Treatment Society Incorporated) Collection