CARBON FARMING —
PASTORAL LEASES
723. Hon JIM CHOWN to the Minister for Agriculture and Food:
Vermin cell fencing in pastoral
areas, which is partially or wholly publicly funded, has been introduced to
mitigate or exclude wild dogs and feral pests from the areas encompassed by the
fencing.
(1) Once these
vermin cell fences are completed or in place—for example, the Murchison
vermin cell extension—will carbon farming be allowed to take place
within the enclosed fenced areas?
(2) If carbon
farming is permitted within these enclosed areas and the human-induced
regeneration project methodology is applied, what stocking rates will be
allowed under the grazing management techniques?
(3) What is the
time frame for pastoral leaseholders who have registered under the commonwealth
emissions reduction fund to receive consent from the Western Australian state
government?
(4) How many Western
Australian pastoral leaseholders that have registered under the commonwealth
emissions reduction fund have received consent from the Western Australian
state government; and —
(a) what are the
locations of the leaseholders that have received state government consent;
(b) what are the
names of the leaseholders that have received state government consent; and
(c) how many
leaseholders are still waiting on consent from the state government?
Hon ALANNAH MacTIERNAN
replied:
I thank the member for the question.
I am intrigued to try to understand what rabbit he is chasing down a hole here.
I want to make two comments.
Hon Jim Chown interjected.
The PRESIDENT: Hon Jim Chown,
you have asked what is obviously a very interesting question. I would really
like to hear the minister respond to it, but, unfortunately, your voice is much
louder than hers. If you would like to listen quietly, we will all get to hear
what she has to say.
Hon ALANNAH MacTIERNAN: I want
to clarify, just in case there is any confusion on the member's part,
that both the cell fencing and the carbon farming initiatives are highly sought
after by pastoralists—just so we are absolutely clear about that.
(1) Carbon
farming projects will be assessed by the commonwealth's Clean Energy
Regulator on the basis of existing eligibility criteria. Although state
government conditions for eligible interest holder consent are in development,
one would presume a cell fence would be consistent with a human-induced
regeneration activity as it would enable the movement of stock and exclusion of
feral animals, both key components of the HIR methodology.
(2) Stocking
rates are determined by the Pastoral Lands Board consistent with part 3 of the
Land Administration Act.
(3) We have put a
significant multi-agency effort into the policy considerations surrounding
eligible interest holder consents. This work is ongoing as we endeavour to
build industry consensus around this issue.
(4) As at June
2019, 40 HIR projects located on Western Australian pastoral leases were
declared eligible offset projects by the
CER, some of which meet the state's pilot sequestration project
criteria for in-principle consent. In-principle support does not amount
to eligible interest holder consent by the state under the Carbon Credits
(Carbon Farming Initiative) Act. That consent may or may not be provided at the
state's discretion, on a case-by-case basis.
(a) The projects
that were registered by the CER and require state government eligible interest
holder consent are located in the midwest, goldfields and Gascoyne regions;
(b) refer to
Minister for Lands, as ability to disclose pastoral lessee information is
subject to the Land Administration Act 1997; and
(c) there are 40
projects.