The State Government has been asked to clarify who is responsible for costs when trees on public land fall across private fences.
Gippsland East Nationals MP, Tim Bull, raised the matter in Parliament recently, due to the frustration of local landholders.
“We have a situation where landholders can only clear one metre from their fence lines without approval, or they are charged with illegal vegetation clearing laws,” Mr Bull said.
“However, the situation arises where they identify trees outside this one metre buffer that are likely to fall in a storm.
“Then, when the inevitable happens, they are forced to pick up the bill of fixing their fences, which is unfair.
“There is an avenue to have these trees pre-assessed but it is onerous, untimely and often rules out removal of trees that inevitably fall.”
Mr Bull said he had one case recently at Bonang where a storm resulted in several trees falling over boundary fencing, causing considerable damage.
“The State Government cannot have it both ways. If they do not allow for appropriate clearing adjacent to private property, they must then assist with costs when these trees fall and cause damage.
“Some of these trees are over 20 metres tall and are within 10 metres of boundary fencing.
“Therefore, I have asked the Minister to review the process and advise what avenues are available to landholders in this situation as clearly the status quo is resulting in costly repair bills landowners have to foot,” he said.
IMAGE: A tree situated in the road reserve next to private property has fallen across farm fencing, prompting Nationals MP Tim Bull, to ask who is responsible for the costs of repair.
