The 2016 Local Nuisance and Litter Control Act, which allows councils to issue fines, abatement notices, or pursue legal action to protect communities or individuals from nuisances such as odours, dust and noise, needs to take into account and acknowledge which land use existed first.
The expansion of residential developments into prime agricultural areas has resulted in housing developments now being the new neighbours of long-established farm enterprises.
These farms produce 20 per cent of our nation’s vegetable crop, valued at over $3 billion.
They are now the centre of numerous complaints about nearly every aspect of their operation, including ground preparation, harvesting, spraying, transporting goods by truck and irrigating crops.
To avoid costly court action, farmers have spent long hours and money appeasing their neighbours and co-existing, but at times these restrictions and changes have put the production and sale of their highly valued crops at risk.
Primary production should have been identified and included on a list of activities which were not considered as a “local nuisance” when the Local Nuisance and Litter Control Amendment Bill was passed last month.
I would like to urge legislators to amend this bill further so that normal day-to-day activities can continue without the prospect of legal action being taken.
Ian Macgowan, Ceduna
Policy needs changing
Having failed to convince the public about the virtues of public funding of nuclear power stations, the Coalition have settled on a new policy purportedly addressing energy costs by curbing emissions reduction which primarily serves the interests of major donors and internal unity.
When failure to reduce emissions urgently invites catastrophe climate change you cannot credibly ignore the costs of inaction, when arguing a case based on cost.
Furthermore, power prices have gone up, but a key factor is the burgeoning cost of generating electricity using fuels favoured by the Coalition while experts advise the least cost path involves renewables.
The Coalition’s announcement on net zero amounts to a rejection of wind and solar energy, which flies in the face of facts.
Jim Allen, Panorama
