Carbon Tax
Carbon Tax
After years of intense debate, 2011 saw the introduction of carbon tax legislation through the Federal Parliament.
Whilst AgForce and its National representative body the National Farmers Federation opposed the introduction of this and its predecessor schemes, on 1 July 2012 the Federal Government introduced a carbon price, based on a price of $23/tonne of CO2-e on selected fossil fuels consumed by major industrial emitters. While agriculture is not directly taxed under the scheme as well initially proposed, its impacts will still be felt by primary producers and land managers across the State, and AgForce will continue to press government to make permanent the exclusion of heavy vehicle fuel and mitigate additional costs borne by farmers from higher electricity costs as well as the pass-through of costs from the processing sector.
While the carbon trading system has its downsides, it may also present opportunities for landholders to play a role as part of the solution to climate change mitigation through land management techniques (e.g. tree planting or regrowth retention). Whilst many of these opportunities are still emerging and being tested, AgForce is involved in the debate to ensure that such opportunities are robust, viable and do not come at the cost of our current primary production of food and fibre our industry.
After years of intense debate, 2011 saw the introduction of carbon tax legislation through the Federal Parliament.
Whilst AgForce and its National representative body the National Farmers Federation opposed the introduction of this and its predecessor schemes, on 1 July 2012 the Federal Government introduced a carbon price, based on a price of $23/tonne of CO2-e on selected fossil fuels consumed by major industrial emitters. While agriculture is not directly taxed under the scheme as well initially proposed, its impacts will still be felt by primary producers and land managers across the State, and AgForce will continue to press government to make permanent the exclusion of heavy vehicle fuel and mitigate additional costs borne by farmers from higher electricity costs as well as the pass-through of costs from the processing sector.
While the carbon trading system has its downsides, it may also present opportunities for landholders to play a role as part of the solution to climate change mitigation through land management techniques (e.g. tree planting or regrowth retention). Whilst many of these opportunities are still emerging and being tested, AgForce is involved in the debate to ensure that such opportunities are robust, viable and do not come at the cost of our current primary production of food and fibre our industry.