Cattleman defends his ‘castle’

By Kath Gannaway
GLENBURN cattle breeder Don Lawson is preparing for a court battle already being compared with the David and Goliath battle depicted in the celebrated 1997 Australian film The Castle.
Mr Lawson, who has an interest in the family company Lawson Angus, runs cattle on leased land at Glenburn.
An outspoken opponent of the Sugarloaf Pipeline project, Mr Lawson last week served Melbourne Water employees working on the pipeline with legal papers notifying them they were facing three trespassing charges under the Summary Offences Act.
The Sugarloaf Pipeline Alliance, of which Melbourne Water is a partner, promptly issued a statement defending its right under law to be on the property, and rejecting Mr Lawson’s right to bring the charges.
Mr Lawson will argue he has that right as a member of the family company Lawson Angus, which has custodial rights over the land.
The matter will be decided at what is expected to be a packed Seymour Magistrates’ Court on 29 January.
While Mr Lawson has declined to comment “on the record” about his stance, he says he is determined to proceed and has engaged barrister Serge Petrovich to prosecute the case.
Mr Petrovich said the issue was that the alliance has never acquired the land and had not declared easements.
“They have no right to go on the land,” he said.
He told The Mail he would argue that Melbourne Water had manipulated a Water Act designed to allow people to check irrigation channels and water meters in a way that was never intended.
He said biosecurity measures aimed at protecting farmers and agreed to by the alliance were not being implemented.
They included, he said, Department of Primary Industry certificates relating to disinfecting of equipment, and indemnity from liability for occupational health and safety issues, where land has not been legally acquired.
“Don Lawson has been writing to Melbourne Water for nine months and has not seen one,” Mr Petrovich said.
But Melbourne Water this week said that it had a certificate of currency for $150 million insurance for any one event and that the details had been posted on its website.
The alliance has defended its right to access private property, saying it has a job to do in the same way that gas, electricity or telecommunications utilities do.
“Under Section 133 of the Water Act, Melbourne Water and its contractors have the clear right to enter land and start construction for this critical piece of infrastructure,” alliance project director Rod Clifford said.
He said the alliance had gone to great lengths to consult with landowners to explain the rights and responsibilities and that most landowners were co-operating.
Mr Clifford said the first compensation offers and payments for easements on affected properties started in December 2008 and would continue progressively along the alignment throughout the year.
“The compensation and land acquisition process is being run in parallel with the start of construction because of the urgent need to bring water savings to Melbourne. This does not materially impact the outcome for landowners in any way,” Mr Clifford said.
The owner of the land in question, Russell Muller, told The Mail no agreement had been struck with the alliance.
“The only agreement we have is that I don’t want them to be there and they will come along and do whatever they like … not too much negotiating in that, they will just do what they want,” he said.
“It’s no good arguing with them. They have the laws on their side and it’s only going to cause a lot of aggravation over nothing; they are going to do it anyway.
Mr Muller said he was told a compensation offer was going to be made some time before Christmas but that had not eventuated.
“We’ve only been issued with an intention to acquire,” he said.
Mr Clifford said the alliance respected the right of any individual or group to seek clarification through the courts.