Michael Duffy wrote about ‘property rights’ in his regular column for the Sydney Morning Herald on 7th January 2006.
Michael Duffy began:
I’ve been surprised in the past year by how many stories I’ve come across that have involved property rights. It’s a subject I’ve always regarded – to the extent I did regard it – as dusty, indeed boring. Yet from the devaluing of thousands of Sydney homes in the name of heritage preservation, to arguments over Aboriginal land rights, to major problems with foreign aid and tsunami relief in Indonesia, flawed property rights have emerged as a common thread.
He did include some comment about property rights and vegetation management, an issue that has come up in comments following my recent blog post on salt.
Michael Duffy wrote:
The rural equivalent of heritage is native vegetation legislation. Again it sounds innocuous, even noble in its intentions, but its effect on the many individuals involved has been devastating. It is now illegal for a farmer to remove even a branch from a (native) tree. As long-term land use flexibility is essential to many farms, this has had huge financial consequences.
One example: a study by the University of New England estimates that in Moree Plains Shire, land values have been reduced by 20 per cent on average. Incomes on many farms have plummeted.
As with heritage listings, there is no compensation to those whose assets have been attacked. This has been criticised by the Productivity Commission, in a report into native vegetation laws some years ago, and in its draft report Conservation of Australia’s Historic Heritage Places, released last month. The commission’s chairman, Gary Banks, says: “It’s important in regulation to look at the costs and who should bear them. Both native vegetation and heritage are wider community values, but these laws intrude on the property rights of individuals.”
State governments have decided they can appease environmental and heritage lobby groups with solutions Banks tactfully describes as “off budget” (that is, daylight robbery).
Michael Duffy goes on to suggest that people should be compensated when their property rights are reduced by government, and concludes,
Property rights have been inherent in Western society for so long we have forgotten how important they are. This is causing a lot of harm for a lot of people. It’s time we re-acquainted ourselves with the poetry of property.
A good book on the subject is ‘The Mystery of Capital’ by Hernando de Soto. It was given to me a few years ago – but I must admit I haven’t read it cover to cover. The chapters I did read where a bit tedious, but informative.
By-the-way, I will be on Michael Duffy’s radio national program Counterpoint this afternoon at 4pm, talking about my review of Jared Diamond’s chapter on Australia in his book ‘Collapse’.
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD has worked in industry and government. She is currently researching a novel technique for long-range weather forecasting funded by the B. Macfie Family Foundation.