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

I rise to say that the Australian Greens will be supporting Senator Xenophon’s amendment. The Australian Greens have warned throughout this debate that the deal between the government and the coalition in relation to domestic offsets, in particular the voluntary carbon market, has not been thought through. The methodology has not been done; we do not have that robust methodology. We have warned that there are very likely to be perverse outcomes as a result of not considering water sustainability, food security, biodiversity and resilience in rural communities all together. It must be holistically thought through, and the upshot is that if they are not we will end up with the same perverse outcomes we had with the managed investment schemes. This also goes to the heart of the carbon sink forests. This will not delay the consideration of the bills, but it will ensure that this aspect of the domestic offsets is looked at through a Senate committee process, and that is why I commend Senator Xenophon for taking up this matter in this way. We will be supporting it.