Some weeks ago, TFGA CEO Jan Davis cited our success with the Tasmanian Government regarding the imposition of land tax on farmland. We were able to affect a change to the default position of the State Revenue Office (SRO) that a farmer loses their right to exemption from land tax if just a small part of their land is resumed for, in that example, highway construction.
You will recall that, in that case, the SRO wanted $50,000 upfront from the farmer before it would even consider his property being returned to its legitimate status as primary production land. Common sense prevailed with Treasurer Peter Gutwein saying that in future, in most cases, the landowner could simply send an e-mail asserting that the land use had not changed.
That reform, won by the TFGA, has much wider application than for the association membership. It is of general benefit, but particularly to farmers, and the benefit accrues without cost to anyone except the people who keep the TFGA going, its members through their membership levies.
When people ask me what the TFGA does for them, I like to respond by asking what we don’t do for them. The role of the TFGA is both wide and complex. Our experience in policy matters and issues of public interest means that TFGA staff and officeholders are in constant demand for higher duties. They have credibility with governments at all levels and with peak organisations in specialised agricultural areas. That means life can be a constant round of meetings, jumping in the car, and attending yet more meetings.
So reputation and credibility carry a cost. Your time increasingly is not your own. Under Jan Davis’ leadership the TFGA assumed a much higher profile in the community. Perhaps for the first time the non-farm sector, John and Jane Citizen, knew about farming, knew about our problems and our successes.
While the land tax outcome had general application, there have been industry-specific achievements in recent months: and ongoing campaigns that the TFGA conducts on behalf of farmers.
We continue to lobby for a minor use permit for strain-specific footrot vaccines; we have been instrumental in facilitating discussion on issues associated with bees and pollination in the seed industry; we secured funding from Australian Dairy Farmers to undertake a dairy membership drive; the TFGA Simplot potato negotiation committee achieved a $20 per tonne price increase that equates to $1160 more per hectare. The average cost to members to pay TFGA for achieving this is s $1.78 a tonne. That’s good value in anybody’s books.
The TFGA also worked with the state government to find extra staff to assist during the peak seed harvesting period to minimise laboratory testing and processing delays.
I know there are always going to be those who ride on the coat-tails of others; that they will come along for the free ride and never think to put their hand in their pocket to help the cause of farming. Perhaps a gentle reminder of what we have achieved and what we continue to fight for will not go astray.
TFGA president Wayne Johnston
