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

My question is to the Prime Minister and concerns another ‘coal’ inquiry. It relates to my question of 17 October 2006 regarding a possible National Water Initiative independent assessment of coalmining in high water-bearing aquifers on the rich black soils of the Liverpool Plains. Given the Prime Minister’s undertaking to do so, could the Prime Minister update the House on his inquiries on that issue? Further, Prime Minister, given that the black soils in question have potential under appropriate land use management to be a natural carbon sink, could you include the farm sector in the carbon task force recently announced?

John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I think the member has asked me two questions. The first is whether I would include the farm sector in the task force recently announced. I will consider that. I will not promise on the run to do that, because it may be that by including the farm sector you may have to include others as well and, by extension, you end up with an unmanageably large group. I will consider what the member has put to me but bear in mind that the purpose of this joint task force is to look at the potential shape of a world emissions trading system. Whilst the farm sector has an interest in that, I do not think the interest is quite as great as the interest of, say, the resource sector. I will consider it, but I do not make any promises. In relation to your question of 17 October, I confess that, offhand, I do not have any further information. I will try to get some as quickly as possible and to provide it to you this afternoon if that is feasible.