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

My question is to the Prime Minister and relates to the emissions trading scheme debate and the impact of a potential carbon economy on land use if the food economy is included in a global emissions trading scheme. Given that at some point the economics of food, energy/biofuels and carbon will compete for land use, given that food will probably come third due to the incapacity of those who need it the most to pay and due to the more lucrative markets for energy and carbon, and in light of the fact that the government’s CPRS creates an incentive for land to be used for carbon purposes via the planting of trees, and given the food security and refugee issues that plague the world, does the Prime Minister believe that food should be treated outside our carbon market mechanism? Has the government done any economic modelling on the interaction of these three economies or is the government still viewing each economy in isolation?

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