Queensland Senator Ron Boswell writes:
The Garnaut Climate Change Review final report neglects food security and the current world food shortages.
There is a balance between food and trees and Professor Garnaut’s report tips this fine balance well and truly away from food.
This paper doesn’t give any significant consideration to food security. In fact it goes the other way and seeks to reduce Australia’s beef herd by a massive 7million cattle and 36 million sheep by 2020.
The only food shortage solution Professor Garnaut comes up with is to increase the number of kangaroos from 34 million to 240million by 2020.
For Garnaut to come out with an Emissions Trading Scheme that has no thought of food security shows a lack of real balanced consideration.
Australia should be the food bowl of the world; instead Garnaut’s answer is to turn us into a tree basin.
In one fell swoop Garnaut recommends turning 9.1 million hectares of marginal sheep and cattle country into a forestry plantation. The sunburnt country will be turned into a nation covered by trees and kangaroos if Professor Garnaut has his way.
There is no discussion of the socio-economic impact on communities in the regions that will no longer have livestock and will be covered by trees that will be produced, not for timber, but to be buried in the ground (The Australian, p1, 30/09/08).
What will happen to the people, the jobs and the towns, Professor Garnaut?
It has already been established by one abattoir, that they will be paying $33.60per head extra to cover the cost of the ruminant emissions and $17 per head for increased electricity cost.
This increase of $50 per head will no doubt be taken out of the pockets of the grazier. How much will it cost for one of the world’s major protein sources if we accept Garnaut’s industry numbers decline?
Garnaut seems to be on some sort of frolic where he dreams 240 million kangaroos and 9.1 million hectares of trees solving the problems of the world.
Alas, this latest Garnaut report goes from the sublime to the ridiculous. The whole process is losing credibility by the outlandish concepts that this latest paper discusses.
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Tags: CO2, Emissions Trading Scheme, ETS, Farmers, Farming, Methane, Ron Boswell, Ross Garnaut
