CULTIVATING MURDER NARRABRI

CULTIVATING MURDER

Followed by a Q&A with the director of the film Gregory Miller

& Alison McKenzie (Glen Turners partner) who appears in the film.

Cultivating Murder is a new feature documentary that tells the heart-wrenching story of the murder of Glen Turner, a public servant working for the Office of Environment and Heritage, who was gunned down on the side of a public road in Croppa Creek, 40 kilometers from Moree in 2014. Glen Turner was investigating illegal land clearing when he was murdered, and since his death the NSW Government has throw out the Native Vegetation Act and replaced it with legislation that will allow greater broadscale land clearing to occur, much as it has in Queensland.

The film shows that it is big agri-businesses that will benefit most from a weakening of the laws around broad scale land clearing and that many smaller farmers, some who have been farming for generations, are good custodians of the land but have been coopted by corporate farming interests. Scientific research shows that broad scale land clearing damages ecosystems vital to agricultural production.

The killer, Ian Turnbull, a wealthy NSW rural producer, had previously been prosecuted for illegal land clearing. During the murder trial Turnbull pleaded not guilty on the grounds of “substantial impairment” claiming the Office of Environment and Heritage was bankrupting his family agribusiness, and as a result, he was suffering acute depression. In court, both claims were were shown to be untrue. Ian Turnbull (82) died on Monday 27^th March in hospital while serving a 35 year sentence for the murder of Glen Turner.

The film tells the story of three people most deeply deeply affected by the murder:

Alison McKenzie, Glen’s partner who is left alone with their two children and is concerned that the killer may escape a just punishment.

Fran Pearce, Glen’s younger sister, who joins Alison as they attend the Supreme Court trial of Ian Turnbull. The two women struggle with personal grief as they attend each day of the murder trial in Sydney to show the judge, defense and the media that they want justice for Glen.

Phil Spark, an environmental consultant, who has taken it upon himself, despite obvious danger, to investigate cases of broadscale land-clearing when the government agencies fail to do so.