Farmers deeply disappointed with Coalition plans to scrap pollution reduction efforts

Farmers for Climate Action Media Release 

• Farmers are already dealing with increased fires, droughts and insurance costs caused by pollution driving climate change
• Weather records show Australia had an average of 1.4 extreme heat days annually in the 1960s, and this jumped to 14 extreme heat days annually in the 2010s
• Yet the Coalition wants to halt efforts to reduce pollution from energy generation and axe vehicle pollution laws, which would make Australia a dumping ground for the world’s most polluting vehicles

Farmers for Climate Action, representing more than 8000 farmers across Australia, is deeply disappointed with the intentions announced by the Coalition around scrapping pollution reduction.

Harden sheep and crop farmer and FCA spokesperson Peter Holding, said giving up on pollution reduction was crazy.

“We are extremely disappointed in the Coalition today. You can’t say you’re looking after farmers while you axe pollution reduction policies, when we know more pollution means more fires and droughts, more climate change, and higher insurance costs,” Mr Holding said.

“Farmers have no economic interest in weakened pollution reduction targets. Instead we need policies that work, provide consistency and deliver results. Our recently released Shifting the Burden report highlighted the importance of strengthening the Safeguard Mechanism to reduce industrial pollution and support strong, high integrity carbon markets

“Farmers need a stable climate and clean air and water to grow the food Australians eat. Continued pollution hurts our farmers and our food supply.”

Farmers for Climate Action, CEO Verity Morgan-Schmidt said reducing pollution and emissions from coal and gas were the key to protecting Australia’s farm families.

“Pollution has created a blanket around the earth and it’s keeping the heat in. Climate change is sending farm insurance costs through the roof. The Australian Insurance Council, has said: ‘industry and governments need to continue to tackle the underlying driver of worsening extreme weather, climate change, by maintaining a focus on achieving net zero by 2050 with a focus on driving down emissions this decade. Insurance prices rise, and the most effective way to reduce pressure on premiums and reduce the protection gap is to mitigate or eliminate those risks. In 2022 alone insurers paid out over $7bn in extreme weather claims from 302,000 claims.’

“Farmers are already paying for climate change driven by industrial pollution: ABARES estimates typical farm profit is down by nearly $30,000/yr or $550/wk per farmer. Here in the wheatbelt of WA, we’ve seen what that blanket of pollution around the earth is doing – less rain, more volatility and more extreme heat. We need to make deep pollution cuts this decade to protect family farming.

“Scrapping vehicle pollution standards is just extremely odd.

“Vehicle pollution laws have given Australian drivers far more choice in vehicles than we’ve ever had. Those same laws will likely deliver our farmers good choices in electric utes in the next two years. Australians have voted with their wallets, with electric vehicle sales racing skyward. Scrapping vehicle pollution laws means less choice for Australian drivers and risks us becoming the dumping ground for vehicles the rest of the world doesn’t want. More than a fifth of new cars purchased this year are fully electric; when you add plug-in hybrid electric cars, more than a third of all cars sold are electric in some form.

“FCA’s Energy Sovereignty report demonstrated that electrification makes our regions more resilient, and will reduce our vulnerability to volatile international conditions over time. The Coalition needs to explain why they would be denying choice and locking in long term vulnerabilities. Whose interests does this serve?

“Endless data from multiple sources shows wind and solar, backed by pumped hydro, big batteries and home batteries are the cheapest forms of power. 

“Former Australian Land and Water CEO, Professor Andrew Campbell, has done research which has found enormous volumes of water would need to be taken from farmers to run nuclear energy. In the Latrobe Valley in Gippsland Victoria, his research suggests about half of farmers’ entitlements from the nearby Macalister Irrigation district would need to be bought to run a nuclear reactor, because water currently being used to run the coal-fired power station is required to fill the open cut coal mine, which takes around 30 years.

“CSIRO has estimated building nuclear reactors would take at least 15 years; state governments including Queensland’s LNP Government have rejected the idea, and we still have no idea where the nuclear waste would go.

“We ask the Coalition to fight for farmers, not polluters,” Ms Morgan-Schmidt said.