Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

In the area of agricul­ture, what we have been doing as a government is, firstly, putting together a price on carbon; and, secondly, in this portfolio, working with the minister for climate change on the Carbon Farming Initiative.

The coalition is divided on this issue. Until recently, the opposition was describing the Gillard government's CFI as the 'fastest and cheapest way for Australia to reduce its emissions'. The critical issue here is how we then progress the Carbon Farming Initiative. It will allow farmers to generate carbon credits and new earning opportunities through a range of activities, such as manure management, fertiliser management, reduced livestock emissions, soil carbon and reafforestation. This initiative will provide us with the opportunity to lead the world in the development of land based sector offsets.

The carbon market will be supported through a number of initiatives, including the development of offset methodologies, because it is important to put those metho­dologies in place, on-farm demonstrations for biochar and the provision of $4 million for Landcare facilitators to educate farmers on the opportunities presented by the carbon market. So within this portfolio and with the minister for climate change we are pursuing a way to ensure that the land based sector—that is, the farmers and the producers across this area—can utilise the Carbon Farming Initiative to develop outcomes for farmers to ensure we can have long-term security around reafforestation, if that is additionally supported. Of course, Mr Garnaut argued that allowing offsets for carbon— (Time expired)