In 1998, the Commonwealth Government introduced the policy mechanism of Managed Investment Schemes (MIS) to encourage investment in Australia's tree plantation sector with a goal of trebling the plantation base by the year 2020. This goal was part of Australia's efforts to respond to the United Nation's frustration at the lack of progress to meet sustainable development goals and concern regarding global warming. The introduction of this policy mechanism has led to out of control, unfair market competition between traditional farmers and tree farmers for prime agricultural land, and significant food production areas such as those found at Preolenna and Meunna in Tasmania.

The Government designed and then implemented a mix of policy levers and mechanisms which created a new market for the plantation sector - that of cashed-up investors wanting to take advantage of upfront income tax deductibility. In contrast, Government expected dairy farmers to respond competitively to shifts in their newly deregulated commodities market. In creating an uneven playing field, the Government effectively hung dairy farmers out to dry.
The introduction of the MIS drove land prices up to the point where traditional farmers and prospective new dairy or cattle farmers, were quite simply unable to compete on price. In the year 2000, land purchasing trends in Preolenna peaked with one fifth of the locality's total land area being sold to plantation companies. The highest price paid by the sector for land in that year was $21,164 per hectare -a land price value that any bank loan manager or farmer would describe as exorbitant.

For almost 100 years prior to now, the geographical location of Preolenna and Meunna was ideal for dairying, cattle grazing and seed potato production activities. In 1985, there were 27 productive farms commercially operating in these localities. In 2001, the last dairy farmer was left with no other choice than to sell his property to the plantation sector for conversion. The milk tanker driver informed him it was no longer viable to undertake a daily collection run just for him.
What is so shocking about the Preolenna and Meunna story is the complete failure of all three tiers of government to recognise the economic contribution made by rural communities in the small, medium and large business sectors, and in providing valuable goods, products, services, and on-ground local employment opportunities. Tragically, aspects of current Australian Government policy are forcing traditional farmers and members of rural communities off their land one by one.
The social, economic and environmental consequences of the plantation explosion at Preolenna and Meunna are complex and far reaching. They include the effects of peak water claims of plantations on water catchments, a host of regional economic impacts, including substantial losses in rates revenue to local councils, and the unravelling of a rural community's social fabric - the backbone of Australian country life since colonisation. The human impact of the loss of rural community comes to life in the personal stories which form part two of this report.

The Preolenna and Meunna localities were at the centre of a major land use change which led to the decline of their rural communities, and a substantial loss of prime agricultural land and significant food productions areas to tree farms. This major land use change continues today at a time of global food shortages on a rapidly warming planet, where human beings as a species can no longer simply disperse or move location in response to changes in climate, as there is no where else to go!

Attachment	Date	Size
The Preolenna and Meunna Story Sep 2008 Final.pdf	09/03/09 1:16 am	1.12 MB