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Labor Attempts To Buy Off Mountain CattlemenIt is beyond belief that after the Bracks Government abolished the 170 year old tradition of alpine grazing in the high country it now wants to ‘celebrate’ the history of the mountain cattlemen. By Philip Davis - 14th November 2005 - Back to News Shadow Minister for Agriculture Philip Davis said he was disgusted that the Bracks Government would attempt to celebrate the history of mountain cattlemen when it was Labor who made them history in the first place by kicking them out of the high country earlier this year.
"It is absolutely laughable that the Minister for Tourism John Pandazopoulos has allocated funds to assist locals and tourists to remember the history of the mountain cattlemen, when it was the Bracks Government which vilified and eradicated them from our community," Mr Davis said.
"Prior to May this year, families were able to visit the High Country and experience a uniquely Australian tradition of mountain cattlemen mustering their stock.
"Now visitors will no longer have the chance to experience this. Instead, mountain cattlemen will be ‘remembered’ through festivals and celebrations – effectively making them into an Australian myth like the Bunyip, rather than a part of contemporary society."
Mr Davis said the Minister’s comments that the funding allocation would be used to "celebrate the life and times of the alpine cattlemen" were an insult. (John Pandazopoulos Media Release 08.11.05)
"These mountain cattlemen who were thrown out of the Alpine National Park are still alive – it was their livelihoods that the Bracks Government killed – the cattlemen are still here," he said.
"The cattlemen went about their business for 170 years until May this year when Labor ended this part of Australia’s heritage."
Mr Davis said the Bracks Government should be ashamed at its attempts to buy off the mountain cattlemen with funding for an annual get-together.
"Despite the Minister’s $5000 donation, the Mountain Cattlemen’s Association of Victoria Annual Get-Together will from now on be a time for cattlemen to reminisce and lament the injustice inflicted by the Bracks Government," Mr Davis said.
"It will no longer be a celebration of living tradition, but a commiseration of what we have all lost.
"All the Bracks Government has left the cattlemen with are their memories of generation after generation of alpine grazing tradition. The cattlemen have been robbed of the chance to pass this tradition and skills on to future Australians.
"A few thousand dollars thrown towards their annual get-together, which they have funded themselves for many years, does nothing to compensate for that loss."
Source: http://gippsland.com/ Published by: news@gippsland.com
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