DOUG Menzies has been in the thick of native vegetation laws for the better part of 20 years as he and farmers throughout the Nyngan region continue to fight for a fair go on land clearing.
But Mr Menzies says there is room for optimism.
Even before the arrival of the government’s draft native vegetation laws this week, Mr Menzies, “Summerlea”, said his faith had been building in Local Land Services (LLS) to help him get the right result on his property.
“The bloodymindedness you saw in the old catchment management officers has changed a bit,” he said.
“There are still problems with the laws, but the LLS guys – for me anyway – have been quite good to deal with. They have show they want to work with me, not against me just for the sake of it.”
Mr Menzies was once spokesman for a group of frustrated farmers who protested the government’s land clearing laws during the mid 2000s, even locking out compliance officers from assessing properties throughout the region.