No good vibe for grower

Man loses Castle- like battle for compo over bananas

A BACKYARD banana grower has lost his Castle- like battle for compensation after the government destroyed his beloved crop.

Graham Watts, of Millner, claimed the government did not act “on just terms” when inspectors seized 33 banana plants from his backyard in May 2015, during the Banana Freckle eradication program.

Mr Watts was seeking more than $5000 in damages to cover the cost of new plants, as well as the amount he and his family spent on store-bought bananas.

Mr Watts’ claim could have set a precedent for millions in payouts, with inspectors destroying more than 500,000 plants during an unpopular, $26-million program to halt the spread of the fungus.

The NT News understands Mr Watts’ backyard was among the last 30 or so to be cleared, along with a number of vocal, and at times aggressive, holdout banana growers.

Northern Territory Civil and Administrative Tribunal president Richard Bruxner said his rejection of Mr Watts’ damages claim rested on “quite elusive principles of constitutional law.”

Mr Bruxner said Mr Watts’ claim “on just terms” under the Self Government Act was “similar, though not identical” to provision made famous in the popular film The Castle.

Mr Bruxner said: “The ap- plicant’s banana plants were seized in circumstances where the continued presence of living plants on his property had become unlawful.

“The seizure was a means of enforcing those laws and a requirement for compensation for the seizure would substantially undermine such enforcement.”

Mr Bruxner recognised Mr Watts would likely be unhappy with the outcome.

Mr Watts said backyard banana growers should be compensated just as gun owners were under John Howard’s gun buyback in the late 1990s.

Mr Bruxner said it was a “policy issue” whether banana growers should receive compensation for their losses, and that he had no say over such matters.