VIC Local Farm Endangering Livelihood - Who to Report to?

[Alex Avl]

I'll try to be as succinct as I can.

I rented a place for 6 months and the lease is nearly up and I'm leaving ASAP. I'm on a road with 2 other houses and a dairy farm. They have horrible practises.

100 head of cattle and they cross them over the main road daily. There is a slurry of cow dung! I drive through a river of it. They don't use the crossing section where the road ends with the twin gates etc, for this purpose, they just do that. They feed the cows mangy apples and leave them strewn across the ground. So the health issue for civilians is huge. I feel sick just thinking about it, its horrify to live here! It's a nightmare!

My main concern at the moment though is, for 4 months they were breaking down bricks with hammers for some reason 24 hours a day. The noise level added to my nightmares, 3 am at night and I have to wear earplugs due to the constant hammering but its the leftover rubble of whatever they were doing that's my current major concern. They just piled it up and left it at the side of the road and then covered part of the road with it!

I got a flat tyeare from driving over it and used my spare tyeare, $75 to fix and change over. Now I think others have slow leaks as I have to keep pumping all of them up every few days! I can't afford this! I live with this nightmare and I'm about to leave and I cant afford this! Even my poor father who came to visit me got a flat tyeare on his new two weeks old car because of this! It's like I can't leave my house and no one can visit me and I'm worried the moving truck will get flat tyeares!

Who can I contact to investigate these people and how can I gain compensation for everything I've had to deal with because of them? I was just going to go and control being upset but what if it ends up as 6 flat tyeares? $500? I cannot afford this. Bad enough I've just been waiting 6 months to finally, finally clean the cow crap off of my poor car and be able to breathe again. I'm just so terrified.

Please help?

 

[Lance]

Hi Alex,

If you feel you could prove that your neighbour is responsible for your damage's you could head over to Magistrates court and seek to recover the cost of damage caused by your neighbour. As far as the treatment of the animals, you might want to contact the RSPCA to ask if they feel the treatment of animals is appropriate and what avenues can be followed.

I hope that helps.

 

[Alex Avl]

Hi Alex,
If you feel you could prove that your neighbour is responsible for your damage's you could head over to Magistrates court and seek to recover the cost of damage caused by your neighbour. As far as the treatment of the animals you might want to contact the RSPCA to ask if they feel the treatment of animals is appropriate and what avenues can be followed. I hope that helps.

I was more wondering about general work laws. I mean they are basically dumping toxic waste in a public area. Who are the people i contact about a workplace creating serious heath issues with enviromental crimes? I figure i get the people who police stuff like this, they investigate and stop them from doing this stuff and then i get my compensation somewhere around that all happening. Right?

 

[Lance]

Hi Alex, sorry the dumping of waste can be reported to the Environment Protection Authority Victorian @ http://www.epa.vic.gov.au/about-us/contact-us

In relation to reporting an unsafe hazard you could try these agencies:

• WorkSafe Victoria Tel. (03) 9641 1444 or 1800 136 089

• Department of Environment and Primary Industries Tel. 136 186

• Farmsafe Australia Tel. (02) 6752 8218

Even if you report it they may fine them or not, generally they make them fix the problem, but you would have to pursue a civil claim for damages independent of any breach they have committed. That's not to say you couldn't use any reports from the agency to help with a civil claim.

In basic terms, if they break the law and lets say they do something that breaches public safety, that would be independent of any damage they have cause to you or your property. You would need to pursue that and one of the easiest and most cost effective methods to recover the cost is through the Victoria Magistrates Court.

 

[Alex Avl]

Hi Alex, sorry the dumping of waste can be reported to the Environment Protection Authority Victorian @ http://www.epa.vic.gov.au/about-us/contact-us

In relation to reporting an unsafe hazard you could try these agencies:

• WorkSafe Victoria Tel. (03) 9641 1444 or 1800 136 089

• Department of Environment and Primary Industries Tel. 136 186

• Farmsafe Australia Tel. (02) 6752 8218

Even if you report it they may fine them or not, generally they make them fix the problem, but you would have to pursue a civil claim for damages independent of any breach they have committed. That's not to say you couldn't use any reports from the agency to help with a civil claim. In basic terms if they break the law and lets say they do something that breaches public safety, that would be independent of any damage they have cause to you or your property. You would need to pursue that and one of the easiest and most cost effective methods to recover the cost is through the Victoria Magistrates Court.

Thank you very much. It's nearly impossible to find your excellent detailed answers via websearch.

Great site. I hope it leads to less legal concerns for all!!

 

[Rod]

Not sure what is being referred to as toxic waste.

Filling in pot holes with crushed brick seems reasonable. Better than having huge pot holes that throw out the car's front end every time you hit one.

And farms are often dirty and smelly. Animal waste is a natural by-product and can't be avoided. Leaving apples on the ground is good composting for the soil.

Agree that jackhammering at 3am is unreasonable as is leaving a large pile of rubble on public land.

Seems more like you have chosen to live in an area that doesn't suit your lifestyle. It would be like me buying a property on a main interstate route and then complaining of all the truck noise throughout the night.