[Greens-Media] Legal advice on carbon sink forests: Liberals must reconsider opposition

[Hollo, Tim (Sen C. Milne)]

Legal advice on carbon sink forests: Liberals must reconsider opposition

Canberra, Monday 1 December 2008

The Liberal Party's decision to oppose the Greens disallowance motion on
the carbon sink forests tax scheme is based on an incorrect
understanding of the law, according to legal advice released by the
Australian Greens today.

Advice from Michael Bearman, a leading Australian tax lawyer, is that,
contrary to what the Government has been telling stakeholders, the full
cost of land on which carbon sink forests are to be planted will be tax
deductible under the legislation. This will dramatically increase the
financial incentives for the scheme, increasing its impact tremendously.

"This legislation is Liberal legislation with Labor Party guidelines. It
is poorly drafted and will cause enormous damage to the environment and
social fabric of rural and regional Australia," said Australian Greens
Deputy Leader, Senator Christine Milne.
"The Liberal Party has accepted the Government's assurances that this
scheme will have a minimal impact, but those assurances are wrong.

"If my advice is right, these so-called 'carbon sink forests' will roll
out across rural and regional Australia, giving no guarantee of a
positive climate impact while relieving polluters of significant carbon
costs and diverting valuable agricultural land and water from food
production.

"The question of whether the cost of land will be tax deductible has a
huge impact on how profitable these schemes will be, since land purchase
is the largest single cost in establishing these plantations.

"The guidelines as they currently stand do not prohibit land clearance
for the establishment of a carbon sink forest - land clearance is left
to the States.

"On water issues, once again, in most States, there is still no
requirement for forest owners to pay for the water that they intercept
and the impacts on ground water are still not assessed.

"Malcolm Turnbull must think again before he condemns rural Australia to
the consequences of this flawed and damaging legislation."

Tim Hollo 
Media and Communications Adviser 
Senator Christine Milne 
Australian Greens Deputy Leader
ph: (02) 6277 3588 
mob: 0437 587 562
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