Anne Urquhart (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Before moving general business notice of motion No. 729, I ask that the name of Senator Watt be added to the motion. At the request of Senators Ayres and Watt, I move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

  (i) the National Farmers' Federation (NFF) is the latest significant body which has reviewed its climate change policy and committed to net zero emissions by 2050,

  (ii) our agriculture sector is amongst the most adversely affected by the impacts of climate change,

  (iii) climate action will provide farmers with opportunities to participate in carbon markets, reaping the benefits of carbon-generated income for efforts to further improve the productivity and efficiency of farming practices, and

  (iv) in adopting net zero emissions by 2050, the NFF joins 73 nations, every state and territory, the Australian Industry Group, the Business Council of Australia, the energy industry, our biggest airline, mining company, bank and telecommunications provider, and countless experts and scientists;

(b) supports the NFF, its members, other growers and producers, all those along the food production value chain, and the research community to improve the prospects of meeting the NFF's ambition of making farming a $100 billion industry by 2030; and

(c) calls on the Morrison Government to accept net zero emissions by 2050 as Australia's long-term climate change goal, and implement policies that support the members of the NFF and others to achieve their shared goals of net zero emissions by 2050.

Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Forestry and Fisheries) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a short statement.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for one minute.

Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Forestry and Fisheries) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The government notes that the NFF's target is an aspiration and not a binding target with strict caveats regarding fair implementation and economic viability. The policies the opposition took to the last election would have cost over 300,000 jobs, cut the average wage by $9,000 and delivered a $400 billion hit to the economy. The government will not adopt a target when it cannot tell the Australian people how much it will cost to achieve. Instead, the government's 'technology, not taxes' approach will reduce emissions without imposing new costs on households, businesses or the economy. We've beaten our Kyoto era targets by up to 430 million tons, around 80 per cent of a full year's emissions, and we are committed to doing the same with our 2030 target.

Janet Rice (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a short statement.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for one minute.

Janet Rice (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Greens will be supporting this motion and we congratulate the NFF on taking action to help fight global heating. But, in addition to at least net zero carbon pollution by 2050, we need strong 2030 targets to tackle our climate crisis because at current rates we risk hitting 0.5 per cent warming by 2030. Yesterday Minister Littleproud said that when it comes to climate policy, ultimately someone's got to pay. Farmers are already paying for the coalition's climate failures. Australian farmers are already feeling the brunt of devastating heat, bushfires and droughts. They will be going bankrupt across the country if we have a gas led recovery and the government keeps propping up coal. The climate crisis is already costing farmers $1 billion a year. That's who is paying for the coalition's failure on climate policy.

Question agreed to.