Christine Milne (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

First of all, the minister asked about a time frame. When I started talking about these amendments on land use and land use change, I made the point that I thought the whole thing should be outside the CPRS and that it is a hugely complex area. The government, with the coalition, chose to bring it all in at the last minute. This whole area of offsets was not in there before. The only thing that was in there before was reforestation and afforestation. Now the whole shebang is in there. Because it is so hugely complex, it requires a lot more discussion and none of it is settled because it is all part of the international negotiations anyway in terms of what is going to happen with REDD into the future.

I ask about these particular permits that the minister is talking about in the abatement. In the case of avoided deforestation and also in the case of the national carbon offset standards, I want to know whether the calculations are going to be based on a model. If so, will it be the National Carbon Accounting System or will it be based on a measurement? I would like an answer to that. If it is based on the model, how are you going to calculate the disbenefits over time as the model is recalculated or reframed? The minister would be well aware that for the last several months I have been trying to get the maps which demonstrate the Kyoto forests. The government have indicated time and time again that they will provide those maps but that they just need more time and so on. We still do not have them. These are the maps which are supposed to be the basis that enables your calculations of what was standing in 1990, what the progress has been, where forests have been lost et cetera. We still do not have them. Mr Temporary Chairman Bernardi, I know you will be shocked to learn that that is the case.

How can you have confidence in what the government says is going to be achieved in measuring carbon in situ if you cannot have confidence that the methodology is accurate in the first place? Since Australia has made so much globally of meeting its Kyoto target because of avoided land clearance, there should be the maps and a proper accounting system to demonstrate the claims that Australia is making. I want to know whether we are going to go with a model or a measurement. I would like to know when we can expect to get the maps that we are continually promised and have not got. It will be critical for anyone who imagines they are going to get permits under this system that there be proper, verified carbon on the ground and that there be a calculation over time.

The other specific question that I have is about interannual variation in sequestration or in emissions caused by factors such as weather, fire, insect attack and so on. If somebody gets a CPRS permit or a national carbon offset under the scheme that is proposed and there are emissions as opposed to sequestration, is the landowner going to pay for those emissions or is the government going to absorb that? How is that going to work? As we all know, that variation from year to year will be huge. Will people be issued with credits one year and have to pay a liability the next? Will it be averaged over five years? Who will pay the liability if you have a credit for establishing something and then it disappears?