Introduction

Peter Spencer is a farmer in New South Wales, Australia. In 2007 he organised National Chop down a Tree Day. For almost 50 days from late 2009 to January 2010, he protested against NSW laws that regulate and prohibit the felling of trees and clearing of vegetation on private land by occupying a platform 10 metres up a wind-monitoring tower on his property and refusing to eat. His ‘hunger strike’ made national headlines and attracted attention to the tension between property rights and environmental values in contemporary law. High-profile Senator Barnaby Joyce addressed farmers who subsequently marched on Parliament House, Canberra to demonstrate their support of Spencer and their opposition to native vegetation laws saying:

[T]he Australian people are starting to say we’ve had enough of being signed up to these agreements, where you get the kudos, or the happy clapping in Bali or some conference, but the bill goes home to working families, the bill goes home to the family farm.