WHILE 120 primary producers in the Bundarra area finally received some good news on Tuesday, 45 farming families were ignored.

After a long wait Bundarra's revised application for Exceptional Circumstances (EC) status was granted on Tuesday when Agriculture Minister Tony Burke announced he had accepted an affirmation recommendation from the National Rural Advisory Council.

However it was not all good news.

A buffer zone that included 45 farming families and 162,00 hectares was not included in the declaration.

Barraba farmers Anthony and Helen Ferris were included in the buffer zone and they are refusing to accept the decision.

"I know and a lot of other people know our area is in just as bad condition as the area that was granted EC," Anthony said.

"The mapping system that has been used throughout the whole thing has been conflicting," he said.

Anthony is determined to prove his property is situated in the red zone.

He said many people including Senator John Williams do not understand why the buffer zone was denied.

"People that were granted EC were absolutely gut wrenched that we were not included and were ringing and apologising," Anthony said.

Senator Williams said he was not going to give up on the people in desperate need and that there was a possibility of including the buffer zone in Delungra's EC application.

However for families like the Ferris's another application is the last thing they want.

"I don't want more submissions, it has been long enough," Anthony said.

"If they rejected the first and the second and are using the same information why would the result be different a third time?

"I will just continue to demand that they overturn the decision and I will put all my energy into proving it's wrong," he said.

In the mean time the Ferris family will continue to sell off breeders and use the money to feed the rest.

"If someone said to me 18 months ago I would still be in this battle now I would have given up," Anthony said.

© 2010 Inverell Times

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