Bill Heffernan (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am grateful for the cooperation I have had with the minister’s office in trying to assist me through what I think is a very serious dilemma not only for this parliament but for this nation. I agree with Senator Murray: the thinking behind carbon sinks is sound; the way we are going about it is seriously flawed. Given the fact that the world is now turning its mind to the food task as much as it has in the past to the energy task, this is definitely an attack on prime agricultural land—whether by misendeavour or ill intent or nonpurpose is not the point. That is what will happen.

With great respect to you, Minister Conroy, could I ask of your tax advisers your understanding of the contractual arrangement between a farmer or a leaseholder who receives an up-front tax deduction for a carbon sink and Origin Energy or Country Energy or whoever it is. What is the legal interpretation of a carbon trade? What is the life of the carbon trade? Is it the life of the tree or the first drought or the first fire that comes along? What is the position when I, as Origin Energy, buy a carbon offset for my emissions on your farm and all the trees get burnt? Where does that leave me with my carbon offsets, given that I have actually emitted carbon? I have a series of questions of that nature which I would like answered because they demonstrate the serious lack of understanding of the implications of this bill. I wish there were some way that we could extract from this bill all the other things that are in it and deal with it on its own in a sensible fashion in the best interests not only of Australia but of the global food task, the viability of farmers and the protection of the environment. There are a whole range of very serious issues here. If ever you see a decent appeal in this parliament to common sense, it is when you have the Greens, the Democrats, the National Party and the Liberal Party all saying it. The government is conscious of these issues, and I have had constructive discussions. For God’s sake, let us find a way to fix all of it.