'I've never been more ashamed to be Australian in my life': Vet pens emotive letter comparing banks to terrorists over treatment of drought-stricken farmers... now it's gone viral
- The letter was penned by David Pascoe - a vet from Oakey in Queensland
- He posted it on Facebook and it has been shared more than 44,000 times
- Dr Pascoe claims the open letter has been seen by two million people
- In the letter the vet said banks were committing 'corporate terrorism' and compared them to Islamic State
- 'We need to fully grasp that, and to understand that our people... have been deliberately terrorised, brutalised and sold out,' he wrote
An open letter addressed to the people of Australia that claims banks are carrying out 'terrorism' on drought-stricken farmers has gone viral after it was shared more than 44,000 times on Facebook.
The man who penned the letter is David Pascoe - a veterinarian from Oakey, southeast Queensland, - who claims the letter has been seen by two million people.
Along with his wife as well as radio broadcaster Alan Jones, Dr Pascoe visited devastated farmers in Winton - almost 1,400km west of Brisbane - last week and was so affected by the 'sheer desperation' he saw that he wrote the 2,600-word essay.
Dr David Pascoe wrote the letter after visiting Winton and posted it on Facebook, likening banks to terrorists
The letter details the story of 80-year-old Winton grazier Charlie Phillott who Dr Pascoe says is 'living like some hunted down refugee' after he was driven off his property.
'He has owned his [Carisbrooke Station] since 1960, nurtured it and loved it like a part of his own flesh. He is a grand old gentleman, one of the much loved and honoured fathers of his community,' the rural veterinarian wrote.
'Not so long ago, the ANZ bank came and drove him off his beloved station because the drought had devalued his land and they told him he was considered an unviable risk. Yet Charlie Phillott has never once missed a single mortgage payment.'
But Mr Phillott is not alone.
In the last six months, more than 46 families who farm in the nearby areas around Winton have had their properties taken away, The Australian reported.
More than 75 per cent of Queensland has been drought-stricken since August.
Charlie Phillott - a farmer who lives in Winton in Queensland - is mentioned in Dr Pascoe's letter as one of the graziers that have had their land taken by the bank
Dr Pascoe's letter also compared the difficulties Australian farmers are facing with the 1930s Great Depression in the United States which was captured by John Steinbeck in his classic novel, The Grapes of Wrath.
The book tells the story of Oklahoma farmers who have their farms repossessed - an event that, Dr Pascoe says, 'carved a deep and shameful scar across the American identity'.
'This problem isn't simply happening in Winton, but rather right across the entire inland across Queensland and NSW,' he wrote.
'The banks have been bringing in the police to evict Australian farmers and their families from their farms, many of them multi-generational.
'One farmer matter of factly told us it took "oh, about 7 police" to evict him from his first farm and "maybe about twelve" to evict him from his second farm, which had been in his family for many generations.
'You think they are kidding you. Then you see the expression in their eyes.'
Dr Pascoe also accused banks of committing 'corporate terrorism'.
'After what I saw being done to our own people, I have never been more ashamed to be Australian in my life,' he wrote.
'What is happening out there is little more than corporate terrorism: our own Australian people are being bullied, threatened and abused by [banks] until they are forced off their own land.
Mr Phillott told Daily Mail Australia he was not the only one who had fallen on hard times since the drought
'For the last few months, the prime minister has warned us against the threats of terrorism to our nation. We have been alerted to [Islamic State] and its clear and present danger to the Australian people.
'We are told that terrorism is dangerous not only because of the threat to human life but also because it displaces populations and creates the massive human cost of refugees.
'We need to fully grasp that, and to understand that our people - dignified, decent and honourable old men like Charlie Phillott - have been deliberately terrorised, brutalised and sold out.'
Dr Pascoe told Daily Mail Australia on Thursday he did not expect the letter - which had a picture of Mr Phillcott and a U.S. mother-of-seven Florence Owens Thompson who was left homeless by the 1930s Great Depression attached to it - to attract such an overwhelming response.
'We didn't expect the letter to go viral. It's been shared 1.6 million times under 48 hours... and taken from there and people are printing off and handing it out to people.
'A woman told me people in her town are computer illiterate so she printed it out and handed it out because she felt so strongly about it.'
As for the man who has become the face of the drought-stricken farmers, Mr Phillott said it was not just him who was falling on hard times - it was the entire area and its businesses too.
'The drought doesn't just affect people on the land. It affects the whole businesses in the area - a lot of inland towns from west to east,' he told Daily Mail Australia.
'That's one of the things that have come out so strong, that people realise how expensive this problem of drought is, and various actions from the government and so on and financiers have made it more difficult than it should be.
'We’re only one of an extensive community of people that are finding it very difficult.'
On Thursday, Kennedy MP Bob Katter called on the State Government to take on farmers' loans from the banks.
He told Channel Nine's Today the government would be able to take on the debt and offer farmers a lower interest rate, which belittled the ones offered by financial institutions.
ANZ Bank has been contacted by Daily Mail Australia for comment.
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