-------------------------------------------------- Tony Abbott sinks forests on farms Christian Kerr From: The Australian January 20, 2010 12:00AM
TONY Abbott will rule out the use of prime agricultural land for carbon sinks when he announces a new policy on climate change in a move aimed at avoiding a damaging split with the Nationals.
The new Coalition policy, expected to be released ahead of next month's parliamentary showdown with Kevin Rudd on the emissions trading scheme, is expected to hold back on declaring an emissions-reduction target before the Prime Minister names his final position. The policy will also include incentives to boost soil carbon levels and revegetate land.
"We're about improving farm productivity, strong support for soil carbon, revegetation - and we're not going to provide incentives for foresting over prime agricultural land," opposition climate change spokesman Greg Hunt told The Australian yesterday.
Tree planting on prime agricultural land has been a long-running source of strife between the Coalition partners with the Nationals implacably opposed to encouraging the practice because of its effect on the cost of farmland and its potential effects on agricultural production.
Nationals senators crossed the floor in 2008 to vote against legislation giving tax breaks to private forestry carbon sinks. Deputy Senate leader Fiona Nash was forced to resign from the front bench in the wake of the move.
Sporadic strife continued through last year after then Liberal leader Malcolm Turnbull endorsed a CSIRO report calling for the planting of more than nine million hectares of trees to tackle climate change.
But as it enters an election year, the opposition is keen to present a united front after the damaging divisions that culminated in last month's change of leadership.
The government is certain to attack the policy, saying it will not do enough to cut emissions.
The issue will come to a head when parliament resumes next month with the government reintroducing the emissions trading scheme legislation in a new bill incorporating amendments agreed with Mr Turnbull before he was deposed as Liberal leader.
Nationals Senate leader Barnaby Joyce said his party would not back away from its opposition to creating carbon forest sinks through tree planting on prime agricultural land.
"People are very touchy about removing prime agricultural land, whether for mining or carbon sink forests or anything else as you can't replace it," Senator Joyce said.
"Carbon sink forests aren't just an issue for people in the country. They're an issue for people in Sydney. If you want to start planting trees everywhere they grow fruit, and everywhere they grow vegetables, and where you get the predominant inflow of affordable food into your life, well, you know what's going to happen to your cost of living."
Senator Joyce said farmers supported carbon sequestration.
"We've been doing it for years; it's called no-till farming," he said.
"If people want to recognise it and encourage it and put a financial return on the carbon you sequestrate, you'll get farmers going out of their way to sequestrate more carbon and you won't have to change any law - they'll just do it for you."
Senator Joyce insisted that growing forests to absorb carbon was not an effective way to cut emissions.
Mr Hunt said the Coalition parties were in "perfect harmony".
"We are going to make sure prime agricultural land is properly protected and not converted to reforested land," Mr Hunt said.
Tony Abbott wrote to the Prime Minister just before Christmas pledging bipartisan support for emissions reduction targets.
Mr Hunt insisted the Coalition would still be able to honour this commitment with its new policy.
Mr Hunt said the Coalition wanted an incentives-based regime.
"The one boundary put there is that we're not going to support or provide incentives for afforesting over prime agricultural land," he said.
