Official new research shows regional Australian communities will be the hardest hit by the Rudd Government’s latest, hastily cobbled together emissions trading scheme, according to NSW Nationals Senator Fiona Nash.
The government-owned Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation has just analysed the cost of the ETS on farms, with dramatic falls in income, forcing many livestock farmers out of the industry. In the unlikely event agriculture is not directly included in the ETS, the report still shows higher costs for farms because of higher petrol, chemical and power prices.
(source: https://rirdc.infoservices.com.au/downloads/09-064.pdf )
“That,” says Senator Nash, “is very bad policy at a time of growing threats to Australia’s food security.
“This comes at a time when the NSW Parliamentary Library has found that 43,000 jobs have already been lost in regional and rural NSW since the beginning of the financial crisis.”
“Job losses hurt regional communities most, because they lose the critical mass for many essential services,” Senator Nash said.
“The last thing regional Australia needs in the midst of the Rudd recession is a job-destroying ETS,” Senator Nash insisted.
“This is the same old dog of an ETS, Labor has just amputated the tail and grafted on an extra leg in a desperate but fruitless bid to appease both their union masters and the city environmental lobby groups,” Senator Nash said.
“We still have a scheme that goes far beyond what our trading competitors are implementing, and that means regional jobs and productivity would be exported overseas.”
“The ongoing uncertainty and continual changes to the Rudd scheme mean regional industries are hamstrung in terms of planning their future.”
Contact: Murray Lees, media adviser, 0417 406 338
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