Nick Xenophon (SA, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I wish to place some questions on notice so we do not hold this up any further. I am not trying to exasperate the Minister for Climate Change and Water. The Wentworth Group wrote to me last month in relation to a paper ‘Optimising Terrestrial Carbon in the Australian Landscape’, which makes reference to, firstly, designing a carbon pollution reduction scheme that captures the full potential of terrestrial carbon in vegetation soils, providing land managers across Australia with the opportunity to optimise their contribution to the climate change situation; and, secondly, regulating the terrestrial carbon market so that multiple economic and environmental benefits can be realised whilst avoiding unintended consequences of freshwater resource biodiversity on agricultural land. It also makes reference to a climate change adaptation fund and international efforts to restore terrestrial carbon. Perhaps, in the context of these amendments, the minister can respond on notice to the extent to which the Wentworth Group’s concerns would be covered in these amendments. I do not want to take it any further than that at this stage.