15th March 2000
Parliamentary Leader of City Country Alliance, and Member for Caboolture, Bill Feldman last night launched a withering attack on the State Government over its yet to be gazetted Vegetation Management Act.
In a debate in State Parliament, Mr Feldman quoted a 1923 High Court judgement which codified the rights bestowed by freehold title as being "the most extensive in quantum, and the most absolute in respect to the rights which it confers, OF ALL ESTATES KNOWN TO THE LAW. It confers, and since the beginning of legal history it always has conferred, the lawful right to exercise over, upon, and in respect to, the land, every act of ownership which can enter the imagination.
"This judgement was referred to by the High Court in the case of Mabo v Queensland (No2) (1992)",said Mr Feldman "and most recently in Fejo v Northern Territory (1998) At paragraph 93 of that judgement, Justice Kirby quotes directly the passage quoted by Justice Isaacs in Commonwealth v New South Wales of 1923".
"The evidence is crystal clear, said Mr Feldman. "What this government has done is to thumb its nose at rulings by the High Court of Australia, reinforced at least twice by that same authority, and as recently as 1998. It does not have that right".
Mr Feldman continued his onslaught against the Government, saying, "This Government does not have the right to ride rough shod over the rights of the citizens of this State. They demonstrated that cavalier and dictatorial attitude when they used their numbers to gag debate and railroaded this legislation through this parliament".
"To attempt to take away the most basic right of Queensland's landowners is a serious breech of the powers mandated to this government by voters who expected them to use those powers more responsibly", said Mr Feldman.