Agmates Editor Steve Truman writes:
Over the next 40 years Australia will convert a staggering 84 million acres of productive food producing agricultural land into tree plantations to fight climate change. That’s over 6,000 acres a day, seven days a week, 52 weeks a year, every year for the next 40 years.
That’s the result of the ‘carbon sink’ legislation that the Labor government with the backing of the Liberal party passed into legislation in the Federal Parliament this week.
In the face of Global Food shortages this policy is at best stupidity, at worse it’s a crime against humanity.
If Malcolm Turnbull’s Liberal party had not supported Labor this legislation would not have passed as it was opposed by the Nationals, The Australian Greens, Family First Senator Steve Fielding and Independent Senator Nick Xenophon.
Rural & Regional Australia holds Malcolm Turnbull personally responsible for this appalling outcome. He had the numbers to stop it, but chose not to. We won’t forget that come the next election. Liberal or Labor have consistently demonstrated that they care nothing for the people who live outside of the Australian capital cities.
TURNING tens of millions of hectares of prime agricultural land into carbon sink forests to fight climate change would dramatically increase food costs, destroy rural communities and take substantial amounts of water out of Australian river systems.
The ‘carbon sink’ legislation just demonstrates that both the major political party’s, Labor and Liberal only govern Australia for those that live in the Capital cities.It is only the minor parties, The Nationals, The Greens, Family First and the independent Nick Xenophon who stand up for rural and regional Australians.
Head of the Australian Farm Institute Mick Keogh [pictured] said:
By altering land use patterns and locking up millions of hectares in carbon sinks, rural Australia is being made the “sacrificial lamb” for Kevin Rudd’s emissions trading system.
“The resulting reduction in farm output would have a significant impact on food prices, as well as major socio-economic impacts. This is the dark underside of the glossy and optimistic conclusions about the potential costs of an ETS.”
The National Party Senate leader Barnaby Joyce [pictured below] who defied Liberal Leader Malcolm Turnbull to lead his Senate team across the floor to vote against the legislation said:
The law was “completely mad – akin to an art movie. You don’t know whether to be shocked or to laugh. It is outrageous when the major threat to rural communities is not the international economy but domestic tax policy”.
The Australian Greens also voted against the Bill. Tasmanian Senator Christine Milne [pictured] said:
the Prime Minister must explain to the people of regional Australia “why he is determined to drive them off the land and further undermine the viability of their communities with another tax rort for plantations dressed up as climate change policy”.
Gippsland Farmer Robert Belcher, chairman of Sustainable Agricultural Communities Australia [pictured below] said :
“As soon as you take a farm, you take a family, you take kids out of school, money out of the local community,” he said.
“We have had to work really hard to get the average punter to realize he’s been duded.”
Size of Agricultural land to be turned into carbon sink forests (source: ABARE)
| 2007 2012 | 2013-2022 | 2023-2032 | 2033-2042 | 2043-2050 | 2013-2050 | |
| ha | ha | ha | ha | ha | ha | |
| NSW | 0 | 3,521,000 | 3,521,000 | 3,521,000 | 2,817,000 | 13,381,000 |
| Vic | 0 | 65,000 | 65,000 | 65,000 | 52,000 | 247,000 |
| QLD | 0 | 3,989,000 | 3,989,000 | 3,989,000 | 3,191,000 | 15,159,000 |
| SA | 0 | 244,000 | 244,000 | 244,000 | 195,000 | 925,000 |
| WA | 0 | 610,000 | 610,000 | 610,000 | 195,000 | 2,317,000 |
| Tas | 0 | 2,000 | 2,000 | 2,000 | 1,000 | 7,000 |
| NT | 0 | 525,000 | 525,000 | 525,000 | 420,000 | 1,997,000 |
| Aus | 0 | 8,956,000 | 8,956,000 | 8,956,000 | 7,165,000 | 34,033,000 |
| Acres | 0 | 22,130,000 | 22,130,000 | 22,130,000 | 17,705,000 | 84,095,000 |
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