Barnaby Joyce (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Conroy, what I want to know from you is: why on earth isn’t Senator Wong here today? It is her piece of legislation. What is going on? As you are here, we need to have some of these issues explained. Yesterday you said that land was not going to be part of the deductible expenses; however, the legislation clearly states in section 40-10: ‘capital expenditure for the establishment of trees in carbon sink forests’. There are two forms of account: capital account and income account. Income account relates to recurring expenses; capital account is for such things as land. If I read this legislation in its purest form, I would say: ‘Capital expenditure is the purchase of land. I purchase the land for establishing the trees; it must be deductible.’ If it is not, the government is going to have say so in the legislation. It is no good saying that land is not capital—because land is capital. These are the sorts of issues that have great consequence in this legislation.

We are receiving calls from all around the place from people who have serious concerns about this legislation. I imagine that, with those calls coming in, the people who have made them will want their time at an inquiry to ventilate their opinions as to why this issue is important. I look forward to hearing about the foreshadowed inquiry. If it occurs, it will provide the best opportunity for us to look at this issue. The numbers are not with us in the chamber; quite evidently the numbers are against us today. We have to come up with a better alternative to take this issue forward.