THE Labor Party was formed in the 1860s to represent farmers and workers in rural and regional areas.
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It has for many years betrayed these people by supporting capital city based unions.
It has failed to carry out the construction and extension of dams to ensure the provision of water throughout Australia.
The party has concentrated its energy in expanding the areas of civic and residential development in and around capital cities through subdivision, while impeding development and the building of homes in regional areas.
The government under Steve Bracks forced zoning of areas of rural and regional land as “farming” without regard to council ratings and the size, location and suitability for farming and associated enterprises.
In effect federal and state Labor parties have forced farmers to get big or get out by preventing them from subdividing and selling off land unsuitable for farming.
They have prevented the owners of small areas of land in regional and rural areas from developing those areas, for purposes other than farming, by encouraging councils to charge rates on those properties as suitable for urban development while, at the same time, destroying their value by zoning them as “farming”.
You cannot now create a hobby farm or business in rural Victoria, because the farming zone prevents the building of homes and conduct of general business operations on areas of less than 100 acres.
— BILL BUCKPITT,
Wodonga