Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy) Share this | Hansard source

The government has made its position on these issues very clear. Agricultural emissions are excluded from the carbon price mechanism and the sector will receive significant assistance to transition to a low-carbon future. Agricultural emissions from livestock and fertiliser use and fuel used by agricultural activities are exempt from the carbon price.

The Carbon Farming Initiative will create new economic opportunities for farmers and other landholders who take action to reduce emissions. The CFI is supported by a $1.5 billion Land Sector Package, which reinvests carbon price revenue in our land sector, including through the Biodiversity Fund and Carbon Farming Futures program. The coalition plans to rip up these programs and cut the essential capacity-building and research which they support through regional Australia. Treasury modelling shows that, with agricultural emissions excluded from a carbon price, gross output in the agricultural sector is projected to be higher with a carbon price than without. The sector is projected to grow by over 130 per cent by 2050, and this modelling does not take into account all of the programs that will assist the sector in the CEF package. For example, the $200 million Clean Technology Food and Foundries Investment Program is providing funding to assist food processors improve their productivity through investments in low-pollution capital equipment, and in the budget the government announced it will bring forward $160 million in Clean Technology Investment Program funding to 2014-15. (Time expired)