Bureaucracy

[willedoo]

It's always fun to deal with, necessary at times and frustrating at other times. I received a letter from Biosecurity Queensland telling me to update my registration status. The letter is of the demanding , not asking type as I received one from them many months ago and overlooked it. The issue at stake is my 20 year old lawnmower, a Braford cow who died last year. The department has me registered as the owner of one cow and they need to know if I claim primary producer status on my tax return. You would think logic would tell them the tax department wouldn't accept one cow as a primary industry business, but that's bureaucracy, rules are rules. Registration for businesses has an annual fee of $140, whereas non-business registration is free.

 

The catch at the moment is that if I fess up to now having zero cows, I can't use the compliance form sent and contacting them is not so easy. Maybe the easiest way is to return the form by post and don't mention the cow. I have till the end of the month before being at risk of breaching the act with a maximum fine of $14,375. Those maximums are probably there for cases of people spreading foot and mouth disease or other serious breaches. I doubt a pensioner with a dead cow and who is exempt from lodging a tax return would cop a fine like that.

 

Under the act, livestock includes one sheep, cow, or goat, so if you have a goat in the back yard, you need biosecurity registration. I don't know if it covers chooks.

[facthunter]

Just update to your real status and thank them for their timely reminder. Flattery gets you everywhere.. Nev

[red750]

Read an article on Yahoo News, but it had disappeared when I went back to copy it.

 

A chap in WA faces a $20,000 fine for building a driveway into his property in the bush, including a crossing over a creek which would prevent him accessing his house during a flood. The crime, which he did not know there was a law forbidding, was desecrating an Aboriginal sacred site, the home of the Rainbow Serpent.

[willedoo]

I'm fairly sure you can remain registered with zero livestock. That way re-registration wouldn't be needed if I get another lawnmower, as I'm fairly sure you can't buy and transport another one unless you have that registration number. The national livestock identity ID would already be on a cow that's purchased. I'm still tossing up whether to get another one, but it's a lot cheaper than running a slasher or ride-on mower. If you can pick up a middle aged barren cow for $1,000 plus about $1,000 p.a. to run it, a lot cheaper than mowing. And you get free fertiliser.

[willedoo]

8 minutes ago, red750 said:

Read an article on Yahoo News, but it had disappeared when I went back to copy it.

 

A chap in WA faces a $20,000 fine for building a driveway into his property in the bush, including a crossing over a creek which would prevent him accessing his house during a flood. The crime, which he did not know there was a law forbidding, was desecrating an Aboriginal sacred site, the home of the Rainbow Serpent.

I found the original ABC article:

 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-03-10/heritage-act-breach-creek-crossing-toodyay-jail-time/102072982?utm_medium=social&utm_content=sf264927708&utm_campaign=abc_perth&utm_source=m.facebook.com&sf264927708=1&fbclid=IwAR1IMfi6Dht5Ve5Xhd6FGUgr0dqT4Y7iUL0Tx2I2GHe46XLNNh_gMhtA3GQ

[willedoo]

The cultural heritage laws vary a bit from state to state. In the 1980's laws were introduced to protect Aboriginal artifacts. From memory, the South Australian laws introduced were not retrospective to the act, meaning if the artifacts were possessed before the date of the act, possession was not criminalised but it was illegal to sell or trade them. The Queensland act on the other hand was retrospective and criminalised everyone who possessed artifacts prior to the act. Anyone who had a stone axe head that their grandfather found in a paddock decades ago became an instant criminal with fines around a quarter of a million dollars applying. To make matters worse, the government didn't have any sort of amnesty to allow people to hand them over to museums or authorities. I think the South Australian approach was more sensible.

[willedoo]

The European cultural heritage laws are a bit odd as well. Here in Queensland it covers anything older than 30 years. A bit of a silly comparison, but theoretically you can throw an empty beer can on the ground and it's littering. Come back in 30 years and kick that can and you are potentially disturbing European cultural heritage. I recon they must have some system of deciding what's cultural heritage and what's not. Otherwise you wouldn't be able to replace fence posts when they rot out years later.

[Bruce Tuncks]

Over our ( at the moment non-existent) back fence , there is some tape protecting an aboriginal cultural site, which looks like a tree to me.

I must look into Victoria's rules etc. Thanks guys for alerting me, gosh I wish I could help with those bureaucrats in WA.

[willedoo]

The only experience I've had with European cultural heritage laws was in the oil and gas industry. A lot of the exploration is done on remote cattle properties and any old obsolete infrastructure is protected and has to be given a wide berth. An example is old bronco yards. Most stations have gone to modern steel trucking yards and there would be very few stations still using bronco yards.

 

For those who are not familiar with them, bronco yards are a basic yard from the days when work was done on horseback. They are usually just one round or square pen made up of vertical posts with thick bull wire running between them instead of rails. In the centre of the yard is a bronco panel which is usually made of two halves, each consisting of a shorter post leading up to a longer post with side rails between the two, creating a couple of slots in the middle with a longer free-standing post. The ringers would have one horse trained to pull, so they would rope a beast then pull it with the horse on the other side of the panel which causes the rope and cow's head to rise up the slope of the panel. They pull the beast right up to the panel where the ringers get a leg rope on it to do the branding etc.. Real cowboy stuff.

 

A lot of those old yards will be there for a long time as the posts are usually hardy types like mulga, gidyea, rosewood and even beefwood in some areas. In some of that country, it can be easy to mistake old Aboriginal clay ovens for worn down termite mounds, so a keen eye is needed to stay out of trouble.

 

[Old Koreelah]

2 hours ago, willedoo said:

The European cultural heritage laws are a bit odd as well. Here in Queensland it covers anything older than 30 years…

A pain in the proverbial for developers, but sometimes neccessary in this young country, where stuff built by our settler ancestors might be thin on the ground. I once drove though the NW of the state with my wife’s grandfather, who pointed out the sites of numerous shanties and their associated vineyards (from the days before refrigeration changed our drinking preference to beer). Almost nothing of this, our history, is left for us to see.

 

After helping my hard-working parents build fences, yards, sheds and gateways on our farm (and they were built to last!), it was heartbreaking to see them all bulldozed by the new owners. When I take my grandies to see their heritage, there’s nothing to see.

[spacesailor]

Blame those same law's , that make a criminal out of  digging a swimming pool ' hole ' only to find human bones .

The new answer is to " smash them to bits " , so they no longer exists. 

 No problems NOW putting in the new swimming pool. 

spacesailor

[onetrack]

Tony Maddox (who I know reasonably well) is a bit of a dill, IMO. He lives in the past, where squatters just did what they like as regards development, and there were practically no laws against any development, clearing, destruction of buildings, archaelogical sites, changes of watercourses, taking of water, etc, etc.

 

Tony Maddox is an ex-Elders station and stock agent and auctioneer - and he also runs a sizeable real estate business - and he owns this decent-sized farm as well. He's also a landlord with multiple properties.

He must have enough business savvy to know that today, you can do nothing as regards development, land level changes, watercourse alteration, clearing, or even road widening, without referring to a myriad of statutes and Acts and restrictions on what you can do and can't do. 

 

Essentially, you have to submit your proposal for changes, and find out what Acts, Statutes, or regulations and by-laws you have to comply with. Wars have been fought over watercourse damming, obstruction and re-routing.

We have had watercourse laws for probably 130 years at least, where you have had to apply for permission to take water, dam creeks and watercourses, and this even applies to underground water.

In W.A., we have "proclaimed" areas, where you need to apply for a licence to take water - even salty underground water for mining purposes. These "proclaimed" areas are substantial in size, and cover all inland mining regions.

 

Tony Maddox is too much old-school squatter, and thought he could do what he liked without reference to anyone. I think his little driveway crossing improvement exercise is going to cost him a few thousand dollars - but it's not like he can't afford it. He makes a good "whinging cocky".

[Jerry_Atrick]

That is interesting, OT. I noted in the artivle, "If found guilty, Mr Maddox could also lose his licence to sell homes and be forced to close down his business.". If he is a real estate agent (effectively) he should know the laws pertaining to land, and him crying the [the government] owe a duty of care to let him know the laws seems like crocodile tears to me.

[old man emu]

From the Commonwealth Criminal Code Act 1995:

Part 2.3 Div 9.3 Mistake or ignorance of the Law

(1) A person can be criminally responsible for an offence even if, at the time of the conduct constituting the offence, he or she is mistaken about, or ignorant of, the existence or content of an Act that directly or indirectly creates the offence or directly or indirectly affects the scope or operation of the offence.

[facthunter]

Going back to whether you get another COW, they are a real bad compactor of the soil . Alpaca's are much better and Goats eat nearly everything but fret and carry on as much as humans. Pushing fences over is a cow and horse thing and the horses poop in the one place and BITE sometimes and snakes get them if you have dead wood piles.  Nev 

[Bruce Tuncks]

Alpacas don't eat thistles, I wish they did. Our fences around here are not good enough for goats.

Alpacas are lovely animals, they are very dignified.

 

[Bruce Tuncks]

Our lambing percentage went up when we got a few alpacas.

[facthunter]

They protect the other animals.  Nev

[willedoo]

1 hour ago, Bruce Tuncks said:

Our fences around here are not good enough for goats.

Same here Bruce. I fenced my place when I was a lot younger and now I'm hardly mobile enough to maintain them. Some fence posts are chemi-bolted onto cliff tops, that's the sort of country it is. The fencing kit consists of wire, strainers, posts, pliers, rock drill, jackhammer. It would suit mountain goats, but I stick with the old Chinese proverb - 'If you have no problems, buy a goat'.

[facthunter]

THEY will eat Blackberries though. Some people rent them out for that purpose. Electric fences might help. A couple a zaps and they don't go near them.  Nev

[old man emu]

1 hour ago, facthunter said:

Some people rent them out for that purpose.

 

[Jerry_Atrick]

Hmm.. I am now feeling guilty as roast goat shoulder is on the menu in the Atrick's household today!

 

[spacesailor]

At the local butcher's , Goat meat is ( a lot ) dearer than lamb.

SO

I stick with lamb ,

spacesailor

[Jerry_Atrick]

Quite the opposite here. Goat is about 2/3 the price of lamb..  Except for imported NZ lamb, where that is slightly cheaper than goat.

Edited March 12, 2023 by Jerry_Atrick

[spacesailor]

And the Aussie Roo meat ? .

My sister-in-law refused to even look at a red Roo piece of meat . & no COW on the table either . But she loves our ' stakes & roast beef dinner's whenever visiting us .

spacesailor