March 29, 2008

SOME Mary Valley farmers are more equal than others, according to the experience of Mary Valley Road horse and cattle breeder Joe Haack.

Mr Haack seems to have become the latest victim of the enormous social dislocation in the Mary Valley, caused by the proposed Traveston Crossing dam.

He says it seems lessees of land purchased by dam construction company Queensland Water Infrastructure (QWI) Pty Ltd, are second class citizens, with even long-term tenants threatened with eviction in favour of more favoured individuals.

Mr Haack, who has leased pasture from its former owner, Chris Pettit, for the past 12 years, looks like being thrown out because another grazier, whose own property is affected by dam construction, has been offered the chance to take over the land.

Mr Haack says QWI has refused to offer him an 11-year or five-year lease and his existing tenure ends on April 28. Yet, he says, another person, presented to him as a weed inspector, visited his property recently and it later emerged this person was a prospective tenant.

QWI CEO Graeme Newton says the company is within its rights.

Joe Haack says he learned of the imminent loss of his all-important Mary Valley grazing rights after QWI contacted him about bringing a person around for a noxious weed inspection.

He says while Rats Tail Grass is a problem on the property and although he is required by his lease to control it the lease also prohibits him from using poison sprays, which are the only way to control the infestation.

He says this is a built-in Catch-22 which virtually enables QWI to accuse him of breaching his lease at any time.

Mr Newton said QWI generally provides long-term leases to original owners of land it purchases and Mr Haack is not the previous owner of the property he uses.

A QWI officer visited the property with a previous landowner whose property was impacted by dam construction works. The officer was assisting him to find a property to lease once dam construction begins.