Heytesbury farmers form group to rally against Munich Re plantation

Southwest Victorian campaigners say a $200 million plan to buy up land for plantations is blocking future farmers. Here’s why.

Sixteen thousand kilometres separate a steel-grey Munich Re skyscraper and the emerald pastures of Heytesbury in southwest Victoria.

But penstrokes and computer clicks made in the Bavarian office block are having hard cash consequences on the other side of the world.

Concerned farmers have rallied together in the Simpson district, 45km southwest of Colac, to highlight the distortionary power of plantation purchases around the region.

Stephen ‘Pappy’ Hunt is one of the leaders of the group pushing back on a $200m buy-up of land by German insurance giant Munich Re.

More than 20 properties have been snapped up by Munich Re subsidiary MEAG, represented by Colac plantation company Midway.

“My dad was one of the first dairy farmers in the Heytesbury settlement when it was cleared for farmland more than 60 years ago,” Mr Hunt said.

“Back then, the government had a plan for farming in the area. Now, the government is nowhere to be seen and a foreign company is swooping in and buying up thousands of acres.”

Two years ago, Midway sold 17,000 hectares of existing plantations to Munich Re for $154 million with approval from the Foreign Investment Review Board.

Munich Re was contacted by The Weekly Times and questions were deferred to asset manager MEAG. A spokesman for MEAG said the Munich-based group was unable to comment on community concerns.

Mr Hunt said he would welcome Victorian Agriculture Minister Ros Spence and her new federal equivalent Julie Collins to tour the region to understand the impact on the community.

“This isn’t a Liberal or Labor issue - this is a whole of Australia problem,” he said.

“You’ve got a big corporation based in Germany buying up huge slabs of Australian dairy country without anyone in power raising any objection.

“Do they care if they’re wiping a dairy town off the map?

Wannon MP Dan Tehan has organised a petition to be directed at the FIRB, following a meeting in Simpson last month.

Mr Tehan said the widescale planting of blue gums for wood chip needed to be stopped before “prime agricultural land was turned into a green desert.”

“There is certainly a role for the Foreign Investment Review Board to examine these purchases to work out whether they meet that national interest test,” the Liberal MP said.