basin bullet

As I See It

If the Basin Bullet set out to create debate it has certainly achieved that goal with the series of stories we have run on Queensland’s Wild Rivers legislation. Debate is healthy and the foundation of a truly democratic society - a community environment where all points of view are listened to. So it was a little surprising at the depth of indignation raised that I should - within the framework of fair comment and opinion in an editorial piece - actually criticise Agforce.

Some of the people closest to me in life are Agforce members. I reported on the changeover from Graziers to Agforce. I have watched events roll out over the years so I am neither new to the group nor have I anything against the group’s members in all their diversity. And, like all Australians, I have the right to be intelligently critical.

Agforce by its own self-description is a powerful agri-political force in Queensland. Agforce has led a charmed life over the years as far as the media goes, mostly because of a very conservative rural media in this country and Agforce is the most used voice of primary producers. Do John Howard or Peter Beattie get their feathers ruffled when someone in the media criticises them? But the media holds them accountable - Agforce must realise that the media will hold it - as the powerful organisation it is - accountable from time to time. The melodrama over the Wild Rivers criticism is the reaction of a group - or certain people within that group - of not often being challenged by the media and when it does happen, it comes as a surprise.

Desert Channels Queensland stuck its neck out in giving an editor independence. The result is probably the most widely read newsletter of regional groups in Queensland. The DCQ executive has been put under a lot of pressure since the criticisms of the rural lobby group were published. The executive has stood staunchly behind me even though I offered them a choice of easier options.

It is interesting, as a scholar of the media, to watch the role of groups like DCQ, by default, supporting free and fiercely independent media to raise issues of interest to people in their regions. DCQ I thank you - but I think thanks are due from a much wider spectrum of readers of the Bullet.

Bruce Honeywill

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