Property rights destroyed by green fascists.

H/t Joanne Nova.

This is probably one of the worst cases of government chicanery, green zealotry, malicious abuse of power, retribution, and probably legal malpractice I have encountered in a long time. It is the case of Matt and Janet Thompson who moved to Australia from the States and set up a feedlot on a property in WA. After obtaining the approvals they needed, they went ahead and built a 15,000 head feedlot only to find the rules had changed by the time they completed it.

The result is they are bankrupt with an unsalable property.


A great deal has been said about sovereign risk of late with the Rudd/Gillard resource tax, but no society can advance without secure property rights, and the ability to trust that the commitments that web are required to meet are honoured by the other side. These people have met every requirement of the license they needed to start their business but despite this have found the states commitment dishonored.

Worse still is the appearance of a vindictive attack on them from green groups for disbelieving in the GW hoax. In 2007 Matt spoke at the WA Lot Feeders Association about the National Environmental Protection Measures, which included greenhouse gases. He expressed doubts that greenhouse gases should be included and handed out copies of the Great Global Warming Swindle DVD. After the meeting the Department of Environment and Conservation began to pay more attention to his application.

The most disturbing thing is the duplicity of the legal people involved. We have plenty of dropkick, scumbag lawyers around here but even some of them would be shocked by what happened here.

They were advised by lawyers to meet with Dr Johannes Schoombee, an environmental attorney who’s web page referred to his expertise in property rights. He advised them that their original approval for a 15,000 head feedlot has no legal standing, and said they should apologize to the DEC for their development. He said he knew important people in DEC and that they should have a series of meetings, which he would coordinate for a fee. His fee for this original meeting, which took 40 minutes, was $4000.

Since they could not afford to pay him on an ongoing basis, they declined. In 2009 they discovered that he was the convener of EDO. EDO listed the fight against Narrogin Beef Producers as a major achievement in 2008, and had won lawyer of the year partly for his work with EDO and he had never disclosed them that this was the case.

If we are ever going to drag ourselves out of the hole, Rudd/Gillard have dug us into, we need people like this. Unfortunately while we rely for our survival on the whims and whimsies of bureaucrats of a gutless and inconsistent state, only the dumb will chose to invest.