Compensation Principles Fully informed public debate about the compensation issue is essential. Unlike the USA, property rights are not entrenched in our constitution.
Legislation can take away, or provide for, entitlement to compensation at any time.
A government policy change about the allocation and disposition of public resources is legally very different from expropriation of residential property. A vested interest is one that is absolute in the sense that it does not depend on some future event such as government approvals. They are a licence coupled with certain rights to enter on Crown land and exploit the forest resource. TFL and FL licensees do not own the trees on the Crown land that they manage until they are cut. Furthermore, licensees have no legal right to harvest timber until all relevant government approvals are obtained.