Australia: Potato farmers send bill for $500,000 to government for abandoned Galati legal case

Frustrated potato growers have sent the West Australian State Government a bill for hundreds of thousands of dollars after the Government dropped an industry funded legal fight against Perth businessman Tony Galati. WA Premier Mark McGowan made the decision to drop the case, which was launched by the now-defunct Potato Marketing Corporation (PMC) against Mr Galati for allegedly planting more than his designated quota of potatoes under regulation in 2015, flooding the market. But just a week after the decision was made to abandon the grower-funded civil suit, Mr Galati pleaded guilty to a contempt of court charge and admitted to breaching an injunction in place to limit his potato plantings. After the civil case was abandoned, Potato Growers Association chief executive Simon Moltoni said farmers wanted their money back. More