Tony Windsor (New England, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

Well, it is true. But there are a couple of points to make here. The Commonwealth government has recently put in place a carbon trading task force to look at emissions trading et cetera. Agriculture was not included. Another natural carbon sink is organic matter and humus in our soils, some of which trees grow on. In terms of the short to medium term, the potential for carbon to be sequestered in soils in organic matter and humus is enormous—that is not to suggest that it does not get released at another time further down the track. In fact in parts of the United States carbon trades are actually taking place. I am sure the deputy speaker would be aware of the practice of no-till agriculture where the plant residues are left on the surface of the soil. That not only reduces erosion and run-off but also increases infiltration of moisture. Under the Howard 10-point plan that might even be considered a diversion of water if we are talking about trees. The Howard 10-point plan actually says that they are going to have to review the Murray-Darling catchment cap based on how many trees are there because that could be having an impact on the amount of water that can enter the system. That is slightly different to what was being said six years ago.

The new minister makes great play of his statement that they have been progressing this agenda for quite some time. Six or seven years ago the issue was salinity and we were being encouraged to plant trees so that we actually took water up and the watertable would go down so the salt would not come to the surface. Now in some of the fine print of the new plan we are actually going to revisit the impact that trees have on run-off. I think there are a number of mixed messages here, and I compliment the member for Flinders for talking about trees, because they do have a positive effect in terms of carbon absorption. But under the Prime Minister’s plan they may well have a negative impact in terms of water being allowed to enter our river systems. I would hate to see a circumstance where that other natural sink, soil humus and organic matter, and progressive farming practice is scorned upon because it actually takes more water. It allows less water to run off than traditional farming techniques. In fact, on the black soil plains, which the member for Flinders would not be aware of, I am told that that could have an impact of up to six to eight inches of additional moisture.

We heard in question time today that China is building one coal-fired power plant every five days. I will tell you what America—that country that we follow in almost everything—is doing. It is building an ethanol plant every 11 days. One country, fossil fuel fired, carbon dangerous; and another country—America, one of the worst in the world in terms of consumption et cetera—is actually starting to address the problems with transport fuel with a renewable energy source for transport fuel. They are moving at an enormous rate—one plant is being opened every 11 days. I know the member for Kennedy was recently in the United States looking at those plants—

See this speech in context