John Williams (NSW, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Before asking a question of Senator Milne, I want to make a point about what the minister, Senator Wong, said about Australia being one of the highest emitters per capita. Of course we are. Remember our days at school in physics class, where we learned that V equals IR. Look at how far we transport electricity across Australia. It is a big country. If we transported electricity in Europe along power lines as long as power lines in Australia, we would go through six or seven countries. Because we have to transport electricity so far, including to places in the centre of Australia—whether it be White Cliffs, Wilcannia or elsewhere—we have strong generators.

The Greens amendments would restrict our purchase of foreign permits to 20 per cent. Everyone around here knows my opinion on this whole emissions trading scheme. I am very much against it. But what concerns me is, if the legislation goes through, if the emitters in Australia cannot reduce their emissions enough or cannot get enough credits here or overseas, how much of Australia will be planted down to trees. I raise that concern because we need agricultural land to produce food, especially with the proposed increase in population, which Senator Abetz referred to. If Australia’s population is going to go to 35 million, surely they cannot eat bark and branches for food.

I find it very concerning that, if the scheme goes ahead, more of Australia’s agricultural land will be planted down to trees. The Kyoto agreement does not recognise soil carbon, which is probably one of the best ways to store carbon. It is a win-win situation—the more carbon in the soil, the better the soil is and the more food produced. So my question to Senator Milne is: if Australia cannot reduce those emissions and we are limited in our permits, has she any idea how much of Australia’s agricultural land will be planted down to trees to, obviously, produce the credits required?