Board Members
Membership of Property Rights Australia is currently managed by an executive comprised of:
Ron Bahnisch - Chairman
Ron has spent a lifetime on the land. After attending boarding school in Brisbane he went home to help on the small family farm which he later bought from his father. In 1971 he and his wife, Lorna, drew a brigalow block and moved to the Marlborough area with their three young sons. He was active in the Cattlemens Union, and since buying landwith access to irrigation water has been involved with Fitzroy Basin Food and Fibre (board member) and is chairman of Fitzroy Barrage Irrigators Consultative Committee.
He is currently a member of the Community Reference Panel reviewing the Fitzroy Basin WAMP. The three sons are all interested in the land. One son runs his own property but the other two are still working in the family business. Ron is passionate about Australia’s need to protect the farmer’s rights to produce without undue bureaucratic interference.
Lee McNicholl - Vice Chairman
Anne Simpson - Secretary
I was born and spent my early years in Tasmania and moved to South East Queensland in 1972. Scott and I have two sons, two daughters and one granddaughter. We divide our time between Coolum on the Sunshine Coast and our wheat farm south of Dirranbandi on the Qld NSW border.
I've had many years book keeping and general office experience, my last position in a legal office for 8 years.
We have been fighting a tree clearing charge with the Department of Natural Resources and Mines since 2005. We have won at both the Magistrates Court and the District Court. The fight is ongoing. I am distressed to see the rights of landholders being eroded away.
Joanne Rea - Treasurer
I have lived on a beef cattle property outside Rockhampton for almost four decades.
In the past I was on the Council of The Cattleman’s Union for eight years and was a member of The Community Consultation Committee of the Rockhampton Hospital District for four years.
I joined the Board of Property Rights Australia because I believe that landholders are being persecuted by government and have had to deal with the concept of Sovereign Risk in a way that is unprecedented in modern times in Australia.
It is clear that governments have no concept of the disillusionment suffered by those very few of the under 40’s generation who have continued on as small business owners in the food and fibre industries at a time when the world is predicted to face food shortages as one of its major challenges in the next ten years.
Christopher Leeds
I am a cattle producer form south-west Queensland. I have lived at “Narran”, 120km south-east of Charleville for 22 years. I am married with 3 children aged 21, 18 and 16 years.
As a fourth generation grazier, in the district, I have a wealth of knowledge, both handed down and from first hand experience in managing the soft Mulga country of the Wyandra district.
I am passionate about preserving property rights to maintain a healthy, productive, sustainable environment so that 5th and future generations of my and others’ families will also have a future on the land. I am also a member of Australian Environmental Foundation, South West Natural Resource Management, Agforce and the National Party.
Peter Anderson
Peter is a cattle producer and dry land, zero till broadacre farmer on the Central Highlands, "Glenlea Downs", 70 km north-east of Clermont Central Queensland. Peter is married to Julia and they have two children. After completing his education in Charters Towers, Peter returned to the farm to help his father Neil Anderson. A second-generation farmer in the Kilcummin District, Peter has been devoted to agriculture his entire life. There have been many changes in cattle production and farming practices during he and his father's time in the Kilcummin district. Innovative pasture management practices and cropping science have always been implemented for maximum production efficiency and environmental benefits, which go hand in hand.
Peter was active in the Young Nationals and has been involved in local community groups that promote the development of infrastructure and social well being of the community in general. Due to the onslaught of draconian State Government Legislation in recent times, the impact of this on the production capabilities and net real environmental benefits of the region have become a major concern. As a result of this concern, Peter and Julia are proud to support the PRA charter.