22nd Aug 2011 – Senate Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) Bill 2011 - In Committee - CSIRO and Productivity Commission to conduct reviews

This division relates to the Policy For carbon farming.

The majority voted against an amendment introduced by Independent Senator Nick Xenophon, which means that it was unsuccessful.

Under the current bill, there has to be a review of the Act, the regulations and other instruments every three years. Senator Xenophon's amendment would have required that that review be undertaken by the CSIRO and the Productivity Commission. He explained that "it is crucial that this review be independent and, as such, this amendment requires that every three-year review be conducted by the CSIRO, which has already done research into carbon farming, in conjunction with the Productivity Commission."(Read Senator Xenophon's entire explanation of the amendment here. )

Background to the bills

The Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) Bill 2011 was introduced with two other bills to establish a voluntary carbon offset scheme, to be called the Carbon Farming Initiative.(The three related bills are the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) Bill 2011, the Carbon Credits (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2011 and the Australian National Registry of Emissions Units Bill 2011. ) Introducing this scheme was a Government election commitment. The Initiative will be "a voluntary scheme that aims to provide incentives for the agricultural and forestry sectors to minimise carbon emissions or maximise carbon sequestration by altering their forestry and agricultural practices".(Read more in the bills digest. ) The objectives of this scheme are:

• to implement certain commitments Australia has under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol to it
• to create incentives for carbon-abatement projects
• to increase carbon abatement while still protecting Australia’s natural environment and enhancing resilience to climate change impacts.(Read more in the bills digest.)