Peter Spencer (farmer)

Last updated

Peter Spencer (born 1948 or 1949) is an Australian farmer who came to national prominence after going on hunger strike in November 2009. He had been prevented from clearing "native vegetation" from his sheep farm in New South Wales and he said that this had caused severe financial difficulty. [1]

Spencer's use of his land was restricted due to Australia's commitments to the Kyoto Protocol. He was refused compensation for his land being declared a carbon sink as it was the New South Wales government, and not the federal government in Canberra, which had enacted the laws in question, which were intended to combat global warming. [2]

However, Spencer's family later stated:

"Native vegetation laws enacted over 10 years ago by State Governments (and certainly not the ETS proposals and "Carbon Sinks" which are a far more recent development) are not the sole reason for the collapse of Peter's farm, and really have had a very small part to play. For MANY reasons the farm has not been profitable for a long time. Peter spent several years in Papua New Guinea on various business ventures, including an advisory role to the PNG government of the time. During this time he was unable to look after the farm adequately, an issue that was clearly a product of his then circumstance."

Spencer spent 52 days suspended on a platform 15 meters above ground level. Spencer ignored a letter sent on behalf of the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd saying he did not believe it was from him. [3] However, he reportedly invited Bob Brown, leader of the Australian Greens, to debate human rights with him. [4]

The 61-year-old ended the strike after supporters worried for his health asked him to stop. In a statement he said, "As much as the nation is concerned about me, my concerns are directed at the families of the hundreds of farmers who have suicided and the politicians who have failed to show any concern, compassion or morality for what the government has done to these families and the nation's Constitution. My committed stance on the tower was to press the point." [1]

Spencer was evicted from his property for failing to meet payments on loans from family members. [5] However, he was granted the right to appeal to the High Court to decide if he should be compensated by the Commonwealth for the property having been declared a carbon sink. The High Court declared that the Federal Court was wrong to have thrown out Mr Spencer's case for compensation on the basis he had "no reasonable prospect" of success. [6]

Despite claims of being a Christian man, Peter has been shown to have a lack of filter when it comes to commenting on political, personal and other points of interest. While there seems to be an understandable lack of coverage from the media; in home life it is prevalent. Commenting on the maturity and body features (particularly legs and thighs) of friends daughters. The lack of regard for this has been reported as troubling and worrisome.

Related Research Articles

Eminent domain, land acquisition, compulsory purchase, resumption, resumption/compulsory acquisition, or expropriation is the power of a state, provincial, or national government to take private property for public use. It does not include the power to take and transfer ownership of private property from one property owner to another private property owner without a valid public purpose. This power can be legislatively delegated by the state to municipalities, government subdivisions, or even to private persons or corporations, when they are authorized by the legislature to exercise the functions of public character.

A bill of attainder is an act of a legislature declaring a person, or a group of people, guilty of some crime, and punishing them, often without a trial. As with attainder resulting from the normal judicial process, the effect of such a bill is to nullify the targeted person's civil rights, most notably the right to own property, the right to a title of nobility, and, in at least the original usage, the right to life itself.

The Constitution Act, 1982 is a part of the Constitution of Canada. The Act was introduced as part of Canada's process of patriating the constitution, introducing several amendments to the British North America Act, 1867, including re-naming it the Constitution Act, 1867. In addition to patriating the Constitution, the Constitution Act, 1982 enacted the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms; guaranteed rights of the Aboriginal peoples of Canada; provided for future constitutional conferences; and set out the procedures for amending the Constitution in the future.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Land reform in Zimbabwe</span> Equitable reallocation of land belonging to white farmers in Zimbabwe

Land reform in Zimbabwe officially began in 1980 with the signing of the Lancaster House Agreement, as an effort to more equitably distribute land between black subsistence farmers and white Zimbabweans of European ancestry, who had traditionally enjoyed superior political and economic status. The programme's stated targets were intended to alter the ethnic balance of land ownership.

<i>Spycatcher</i> Memoir by Peter Wright

Spycatcher: The Candid Autobiography of a Senior Intelligence Officer (1987) is a memoir written by Peter Wright, former MI5 officer and Assistant Director, and co-author Paul Greengrass. He drew on his own experiences and research into the history of the British intelligence community. Published first in Australia, the book was banned in England due to its allegations about government policy and incidents. These efforts ensured the book's notoriety, and it earned considerable profit for Wright.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Goyder's Line</span>

Goyder's Line is a line that runs roughly east–west across South Australia and, in effect, joins places with an average annual rainfall of 10 inches (250 mm). North of Goyder's Line, annual rainfall is usually too low to support cropping, with the land being suitable only for grazing. Related to that, the line also marks a distinct change in vegetation. To the south, it is composed mainly of mallee scrub, whilst saltbush predominates to the north of the line.

South African farm attacks are violent crimes, including murder, assault and robbery, that take place on farms in South Africa. The attacks target farmers, who are usually white, and farm workers, who are usually black. Black farmers have also been victims of violent attacks. The term has no formal legal definition, but such attacks have been the subject of discussion by media and public figures in South Africa and abroad.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Agricultural University</span> Agricultural university in Cirencester, England

The Royal Agricultural University (RAU), formerly the Royal Agricultural College, is a public university in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, England. Established in 1845, it was the first agricultural college in the English-speaking world. The university provides more than 30 land-based undergraduate and postgraduate programmes to students from over 45 countries through the School of Agriculture, the School of Business and Entrepreneurship, the School of Equine and the School of Real Estate and Land Management.

The Australian government has a policy and practice of detaining in immigration detention facilities non-citizens not holding a valid visa, suspected of visa violations, illegal entry or unauthorised arrival, and those subject to deportation and removal in immigration detention until a decision is made by the immigration authorities to grant a visa and release them into the community, or to repatriate them to their country of origin/passport. Persons in immigration detention may at any time opt to voluntarily leave Australia for their country of origin, or they may be deported or given a bridging or temporary visa. In 1992, Australia adopted a mandatory detention policy obliging the government to detain all persons entering or being in the country without a valid visa, while their claim to remain in Australia is processed and security and health checks undertaken. Also, at the same time, the law was changed to permit indefinite detention, from the previous limit of 273 days. The policy was instituted by the Keating government in 1992, and has been varied by the subsequent Howard, Rudd, Gillard, Abbott, Turnbull, Morrison and Albanese Governments. The policy is regarded as controversial and has been criticised by a number of organisations. The High Court of Australia has confirmed, by majority, the constitutionality of indefinite mandatory detention of non-citizens.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martin Balluch</span> Austrian philosopher and physicist

Martin Balluch is an Austrian physicist, philosopher, vegan and prominent animal rights activist. He co-founded the Austrian Vegan Society in 1999, and has been president of the Austrian Association Against Animal Factories since 2002. The philosopher Peter Singer has called Balluch "one of the foremost spokesmen in the worldwide animal rights movement for pursuing the nonviolent, democratic road to reform."

United States v. Causby, 328 U.S. 256 (1946), was a landmark United States Supreme Court decision related to ownership of airspace above private property. The United States government claimed a public right to fly over Thomas Lee Causby's farm located near an airport in Greensboro, North Carolina. Causby argued that the government's low-altitude flights entitled him to just compensation under the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment.

Mike Campbell (Pvt) Ltd et al. v. Republic of Zimbabwe is a case decided by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Tribunal. The Tribunal held that the Zimbabwean government violated the organisation's treaty by denying access to the courts and engaging in racial discrimination against white farmers whose lands had been confiscated under the land reform program in Zimbabwe.

The Tata Nano Singur controversy was a controversy generated by land acquisition of a proposed Tata Motors automobile factory at Singur in Hooghly district, West Bengal, India. The factory would have been used to build the compact car Tata Nano.

Franklin José Brito Rodríguez was a Venezuelan agricultural producer and biologist who gained national and international prominence over a land ownership dispute with the Venezuelan government's National Lands Institute INTI, which encouraged and allowed a neighboring farm owned by government supporters to invade and seize a large part of his land. He carried out a series of legal challenges and public protests from 2004, often coinciding with other protests such as the 2007 Venezuelan demonstrations. Brito's protests culminated in his death due to a hunger strike. Brito's death, which came in the highly charged pre-election atmosphere of the 2010 Venezuelan parliamentary election, led to widespread domestic and international media coverage.

Chinese property law has existed in various forms for centuries. After the Chinese Communist Revolution in 1949, most land is owned by collectivities or by the state; the Property Law of the People's Republic of China passed in 2007 codified property rights.

A carbon pricing scheme in Australia was introduced by the Gillard Labor minority government in 2011 as the Clean Energy Act 2011 which came into effect on 1 July 2012. Emissions from companies subject to the scheme dropped 7% upon its introduction. As a result of being in place for such a short time, and because the then Opposition leader Tony Abbott indicated he intended to repeal "the carbon tax", regulated organizations responded rather weakly, with very few investments in emissions reductions being made. The scheme was repealed on 17 July 2014, backdated to 1 July 2014. In its place the Abbott government set up the Emission Reduction Fund in December 2014. Emissions thereafter resumed their growth evident before the tax.

Agrarian reform and land reform have been a recurring theme of enormous consequence in world history. They are often highly political and have been achieved in many countries.

Land reform in South Africa is the promise of "land restitution" to empower farm workers and reduce inequality. This also refers to aspects such as, property, possibly white-owned businesses. Proponents argue it will allow previously unemployed people to participate in the economy and better the country's economic growth. It also relates to restitution in the form of settling Land Claims of people who were forcefully removed from their homes in urban areas that were declared white, by the apartheid government's segregationist Group Areas Act: such areas include Sophiatown, Fietas, Cato Manor, District Six and Greyville; as well as restitution for people forcibly evicted from rural land because of apartheid policies.

Eminent domain in the United States refers to the power of a state or the federal government to take private property for public use while requiring just compensation to be given to the original owner. It can be legislatively delegated by the state to municipalities, government subdivisions, or even to private persons or corporations, when they are authorized to exercise the functions of public character.

<i>Reference Re Farmers Creditors Arrangement Act</i>

Reference Re Farmers' Creditors Arrangement Act is a decision of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council on the constitutionality of the Farmers' Creditors Arrangement Act as part of the bankruptcy and insolvency jurisdiction of the Parliament of Canada.

References

  1. 1 2 Rehn, Alison (13 January 2010). "Day 52 will be last for hunger striker". The Daily Telegraph (Sydney) . p. 1. Retrieved 28 August 2010.
  2. ↑ Fitzgerald, Ross (27 March 2010). "Land rights under threat from the green lobby". The Australian. News Limited. p. 1. Retrieved 28 August 2010.
  3. ↑ "Peter Spencer 'didn't believe letter was from Prime Minister'". Adelaide Now. News Limited. 14 January 2010. p. 1. Retrieved 28 August 2010.
  4. ↑ Fryar, Jim; Liberal Democratic Party (16 August 2010). "Bob Brown should debate Peter Spencer". Sunshine Coast. p. 1. Retrieved 28 August 2010.
  5. ↑ Kerr, Christian (24 March 2010). "Landowners robbed of rights, say farmers". The Australian. News Limited. p. 1. Retrieved 28 August 2010.
  6. ↑ The Australian [ dead link ]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.