Paying The Price: Nationalisation Of Private
Property Or Restoring The Commons?
Author(s)
F. Rochford
Abstract
In November 2009 Peter Spencer, an Australian Grazier, climbed a tower on his
property in New South Wales and began a hunger strike. He claimed to be
protesting against limits to vegetation clearing which effectively ‘sterilised’ his
assets. He argued that land use constraints have been used as a carbon offset to
ensure compliance with carbon reduction targets, but that they have rendered his
land ‘unviable’. Although he has discontinued his hunger strike, litigation in the
High Court continues, claiming that limitations on land clearance are an
expropriation of property attracting the provisions of the Australian Constitution
which require compensation on ‘just terms’.
This paper assesses tension between restrictions on private property and the
interests of the community in addressing climate change, considering the
justifications for private property. It considers the legal mechanisms by which
restrictions have been imported, and the claim that the Australian Federal
Government has avoided the requirement to pay compensation because the
regulatory regime was introduced by the State of New South Wales, as a result of
agreement with the Commonwealth. It then considers the potential for
regulatory action to cast the burden of climate change on a few, without
compensation, and considers issues of justice arising from realisation of that
potential.
Keywords: sustainability, land use, property, law and policy.
1 Introduction
This paper examines the social and legal implications of legislation regulating
land clearing on private land in Australia. Under the Kyoto Protocol, which
Australia has now ratified, Australia is committed to containing its carbon
Keywords
sustainability, land use, property, law and policy.
Related Book
Other papers in this volume
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