Independently Owned, Locally Grown, Community Loved
Contributed with thanks by the office of Federal Member for Dawson Andrew Willcox
The Coalition will move to stop taxpayer money being used to help investment funds acquire Australian agricultural land for carbon projects, and scrap Labor’s Net Zero laws.
The move would prohibit the Clean Energy Finance Corporation from providing funding or financial assistance to entities acquiring agricultural land for the purpose of establishing tree plantations to generate carbon offsets.
The Coalition will also introduce legislation to abolish Labor’s Net Zero, Labor’s toxic carbon taxes and end the Government’s more than $80 billion Net Zero spending spree.
The announcement follows the controversial sale of Tasmania’s 21,745-hectare Rushy Lagoon property to UK investment firm Gresham House. The Clean Energy Finance Corporation is investing $69 million in the project, with around 9,000 hectares planned for pine plantations.
Federal Member for Dawson, Andrew Willcox, said the Federal Government should be backing Australian farmers and protecting productive land, rather than using taxpayer money to compete with them.
“We have farmers across Dawson working incredibly hard to put food on Australian tables, yet Labor is prepared to help foreign investment funds acquire Australian land for carbon projects.
“The question for regional Australians is simple, what comes next?”
Mr Willcox said the Government’s approach to agriculture was also at odds with its own ambitions for Australia’s biofuels industry.
“Labor is now telling us that sugar and other agricultural products can provide the feedstocks for a new Australian bioenergy industry, but you cannot build a biofuels industry without the farmers who grow the feedstock.
“You cannot tell a cane farmer to produce more, while making it harder to use the land needed to grow the crop.
“If we want a future in biofuels, we need a future for Australian agriculture first.”
Mr Willcox said recent changes to agricultural land-clearing rules had added to uncertainty for Queensland farmers.
“Australia has some of the best farmers in the world. We should be giving them every opportunity to produce more, invest more and pass their farms on to the next generation.
“The Coalition will stand with our farmers, protect our food security and make sure Australian land is working for Australian families, Australian agriculture and Australia’s future.”
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