A little parable from a place far far away in another time...

Once upon a time in the land of Oneupmanship, there lived a wealthy man, named Richard. His nickname was ‘Rich’ and he had a beautiful wife and family. He was very proud and happy because he had been able to buy them everything their hearts’ desired.

He had a friend named Paul, who lived out in the country. Paul’s nickname was 'Poor'. He was a struggling farmer, contracted to grow mono-crops on his land for a large food consortium which paid him poorly. Poor also had a beautiful wife and family. They had to be very careful with their money, but fortunately they had a small…

Ooooby (Out of our own back yards) connects communities through local food.

Many of you will be aware of the Food Bill that is due to be passed through Parliament shortly after the summer holidays. This Bill directly effects Ooooby and its members.

'In a nutshell, if the new Food Bill is passed then 'unexempted' trading of homegrown food could be treated as a criminal offence attracting fines of up to $100,000 and 5 years imprisonment.  That means, if a person or corporation has motivation to prevent you from sharing food between neighbours and friends, they could use this law (along with a well argued accusation and fistfuls of money), to send in privately contracted indemnified Food Safety Officers' to search and stop operations at your premises without a warrant and also to gain a warrant to search your private home.  They may use any force that is…