NSW Nationals Steve Cansdell has egg on his face over hungerstrike protest

NSW Nationals MP for Clarence Steve Cansdell has jumped on the Peter Spencer bandwagon and is spouting the usual inaccurate nonsense. It would appear that there is no political depth too low for this politician to plumb in his efforts to keep his name in print.

This is what Mr. Cansdell told ABC News on 6 January 2010:

A north coast politician has called for people across NSW to support a grazier on a hunger strike over a dispute in a land clearing application.
Peter Spencer today enters day 47 of his hunger strike in a wind tower on his Shannons Flat property outside Cooma, and reportedly does not have long to live.
He is arguing that state native vegetation laws have been used by the Federal Government to lock-up land to meet carbon pollution reduction targets.
Clarence MP Steve Cansdell says farmers across the state are experiencing the same frustration.
"I just hope that Peter gets the support of everyone across NSW to make this Government realise that we have to work together, not against the rural sector," he said.
"He's really there on behalf of all NSW landowners, all of NSW rural industries such as our timber industry, our cattle."

He was more circumspect a day later when quoted in The Daily Examiner:

"While I don't necessarily support Mr Spencer's tactics, it is time for the NSW Government to show some compassion and do something to break the deadlock before a tragedy occurs."

Cansdell is only one of many who are trying to make political capital out of Peter Spencer's situation and his family appears to have had enough.The Spencer family are clearly concerned about antics of the media, certain websites and politicians such as Barnaby Joyce and Steve Cansdell.

This is the public statement the family issued, as reported in The Australian on 9 January 2009:

WE do not proclaim to be speaking on behalf of all of our family, others may certainly feel differently however we do feel that every issue has different opinions so we would like to say the following.

Peter's brother, Graham, is a former farmer who recently sold his dairy farm and retired after 26 years of farming. He was on the board of the Dairy Farmers Association and an active member within his local community. He and other family members had been trying to work with the family members involved to prevent the issue being dragged through the media however we now feel the need to address some issues.

Peter, we love you, and think that it is fantastic that you are trying to help other farmers get due compensation from the government. However, we are concerned by some television, print media and niche internet publications coverage of the issue and its politicisation by various interest groups and parliamentarians to further their own agendas, at the expense of Peter's health and welfare.

Native vegetation laws enacted over 10 years ago by State Governments (and certainly not the ETS proposals and "Carbon Sinks" which are a far more recent development) are not the sole reason for the collapse of Peter's farm, and really have had a very small part to play. For MANY reasons the farm has not been profitable for a long time. Peter spent several years in Papua New Guinea on various business ventures, including an advisory role to the PNG government of the time. During this time he was unable to look after the farm adequately, an issue that was clearly a product of his then circumstance.

Over the years, Peter spent money on trying to develop some fantastic enterprises, including the development of high quality wool and wind farming which unfortunately did not pan out. In order to help Peter, some family members put their financial freedom in jeopardy to use their property as a guarantee for Peter's loan. These family members worked side-by-side with Peter, trying to get the farm up and running.

As any farmer knows, sometimes, despite your best intentions and incredible effort, farming is not always fruitful, especially in a time of drought. Interest payments on the loan could not be made, and faced with bankruptcy, the family had to issue a writ of foreclosure on Peter's farm. The intention is to sell the farm to recover the money from their debts and all remaining money will be returned to Peter. If the family members had not guaranteed the loan several years ago when Peter was facing bankruptcy the banks would have sold the farm only to recover their money and Peter would have been left with nothing. What is so incredibly sad, is that Peter and the family members who guaranteed his loan, were always very close. Now this has torn two families apart. To borrow such a huge sum to help a sibling is a remarkable gift, but to go into bankruptcy for that sibling is surely beyond the call of duty.

We are devastated with the conspiracy theories, innuendoes and utter rubbish sprouted by some members of news forums and websites declaring to support Peter who clearly know nothing about this situation but have taken whatever they have read at face value, and accepted it as gospel. Peter is an amazing, courageous man. But the loss of his farm is not due to governments, big business or climate change. There is no conspiracy by wind companies or any other organisation to rob Peter of his land. What we are concerned about is that certain people may be taking advantage of a vulnerable man faced with losing his property and using him to their advantage. The issues being touted are not wholly true and Peter's situation is a very poor example for any Native Vegetation/Kyoto/ETS/Rudd/Howard/State/Federal concerns and anything else which is being included in the argument. It will do no benefit to any disgruntled farmer's cause by continuing to use Peter as their martyr. If people are genuinely concerned for Peter please convince him to come down. Then find a more suitable way of expressing their concerns. Please remember this is an election year.

In conclusion, while there are some fantastic supporters of Peter's who deserve much praise, there are too many others taking advantage of him for their own political causes. We don't know why people want Peter to continue starving himself, and putting his health at such risk. Here is a man with TOO MUCH TO LIVE FOR and we urge the media to properly undertake research and check claims before merely producing them as "news" and encouraging Peter's plight through politicising it.

• Background post "Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity"