Doug is calling for the farming community and businesses across the eastern seaboard to withhold payment of council and water rates.
He is the third generation of his family to farm the land and he feared there won’t be a fourth.
“Until we get a Federal Royal Commission into all-natural resource management including water management on just terms, I say let’s hit them where it hurts and withhold payment,” Doug said.
A decision he said was forced on family farms no longer capable of earning a self-sustaining income without increasing debt.
“Primary producers own land and water and yet cannot make ends meet – 2020 is the time for people to rise and take control of the situation and governments need to hear our message that we will not stand for this any longer,” Doug said.
“We have enough feed for two months but who knows what happens after that?
“If we don’t get any rain there will be no irrigation allocation next season and where will that leave us all – not just the farmers, but our rural communities that depend on us to spend money so they can survive.”
As water has become too expensive for farming use or left the district altogether, Doug has watched the farmland around him turn from a productive green oasis to a dry and desolate landscape with dying trees and no bird or wildlife.
“We used to be able to set our watch by the ibis that would fly onto our paddocks – and we haven’t heard a frog for years. We have lost all the turtles and lizards as channels have dried up or filled in.”
Doug said he had also watched local businesses dependent on a thriving agriculture sector struggle, and the heartbreak of families leaving the district.
“I can’t look into people’s finances personally, but I can read between the lines and I have seen and heard some pretty raw stuff in the past couple of years at these MDBA meetings we continue to attend, but the government continues to ignore.”
Doug was one of thousands of people to protest in Canberra last year at the ‘Can the Plan’ rally. He was joined by members of his extended family, including his grandchildren.
He feels the protest has again been ignored, which prompted him to make a series of new year’s resolutions.
“In 2020 I am going to be less tolerant, I’m going to be more angry and I’m not going to believe a single word that comes from the National Party.
“The National Party is meant to be representing our community and all it is doing is shutting the door in our faces – they will get a big shakeup come the next election.”
