‘Treacherous’ carbon tax will push grain farmers to the brink
30th May, 2011
TODAY the Coalition welcomed the National Farmers’ Federation (NFF) in adding its voice, on behalf of Australia’s 136,000 farmers, to the growing chorus saying ‘NO’ to a carbon tax.The peak farm body has demanded the rejection of the carbon tax as new Australian Farm Institute research exposes that an average grain farm in Western Australia will be up to $36,000-a-year worse off under a carbon tax.
“I’ll see the Gillard government’s 140 prominent Australians and raise it 136,000 farmers,” Leader of The Nationals Warren Truss said today. “This new research confirms what grass roots farmers have instinctively known for a long time, that even if they are initially left out of the carbon tax regime the indirect costs will make many farms unviable.
“The study assumes a carbon price of $36 per tonne, but we know that regardless of where it starts, the tax will ramp up quickly and $36 per tonne will soon be overtaken.
“Grain farmers now know they are in the fight of their lives and the rest of the country – metropolitan and regional Australians, alike – needs to realise just what is being put in jeopardy by the ideological dogma of this Labor-Greens-Independents alliance.
“Australian grain farmers produced 34,409,000 tonnes of grain last year, including barley, grain sorghum, maize, oats, triticale and wheat, with production worth around $9 billion-a-year. Our grain exports exceeded $5 billion in income for this nation.
“Of course, the impact of the carbon tax won’t stop at just grain farming. Agricultural production in this country is a mainstay of our economy and fundamental to our quality of life. Our farmers drive $155 billion-a-year in production, $32 billion in annual exports and support 1.6 million jobs.
“That’s a lot to sacrifice at the altar of a carbon tax.
“But the economic impact is only part of the equation. Australia is self-sufficient in food production and the envy of the world for our sustainable, high quality and reliable farming practices, which support entire regional communities and supply most of the food we rely on every day in this country. And our farms sequester carbon for which farmers get no credit.
“To knowingly put that at risk is an act of treachery by this government against its own people. Selling out our farmers is contrary to our national interests, but no doubt has our international competitors licking their lips.
“I reaffirm that we must act on climate change, but a carbon tax is not a solution. It will kill Australian production and jobs in favour of jobs in countries that don’t tax carbon dioxide and will result in us importing more from countries with higher CO2 emissions than our own.
“The Gillard government is hell-bent on destroying what generations of Australians have worked for, and is doing so in the name of a regressive tax that no-one wants.”
[ENDS]
