“The Government has no idea what financial impacts farmers will weather from entering the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), or any of the He Waka Eke Noa proposals,” says ACT’s Primary Industries spokesperson Mark Cameron....
“The Government has no idea what financial impacts farmers will weather from entering the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), or any of the He Waka Eke Noa proposals,” says ACT’s Primary Industries spokesperson Mark Cameron.
“I asked the Finance Minister through Written Parliamentary Questions what advice he’d received on the financial impacts his Government’s policies would impose on farmers. His answer was that he has received no advice at all.
“This follows on from Damien O’Connor’s admission to me last week that he hasn’t even bothered to request any economic analysis either.
“We’re an export nation who has been kept afloat by the primary sector and relies on it during turbulent economic times. Yet the Government doesn’t even have the decency to do its due diligence on proposals that could have a costly, negative effect on the sector as a whole.
“The focus should be on working with the primary sector on more accurate measurement and management frameworks for methane emissions and ensuring there are no barriers to the uptake of new emissions reduction technologies.
“The ETS option has not been developed either. If farming is to be forced into the ETS, it should be with proper treatment of methane as a short lived gas and allowances for on-farm sequestration.
“New Zealand’s food and fibre sector accounts for 82 per cent of our trade and makes up 11.2 per cent of our GDP. We need to know what financial impact these policies will have before making any calls or we risk killing the goose that lays the golden eggs.”
Written Parliamentary Question 8155 can be found here.