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The Climate Institute has got it wrong if they think passing the CRPS in Australia is going to affect weather, Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) Chief Executive Kate Carnell said today.
“Is the Climate Institute really suggesting that by Australia adopting a carbon trading scheme, it will lessen the impact of drought and floods – if so, we would like to see the science,” Ms Carnell said. “Fluctuations in weather is something that Australia’s agricultural and food processing sectors have had to manage for 200 years – and in fact, risk management is a key component of any business. “However, additional costs like the ones being imposed by the proposed CPRS are new and shouldn’t be imposed without a thorough understanding of their impact,” she said. Ms Carnell said the Climate Institute had got it wrong about a range of issues including who AFGC represents (retailers are not AFGC members) and claiming we’ve been actively campaigning against emissions trading. “This is simply not true. Our position is that Australia needs to become more energy efficient and reduce emissions. However, we must not act ahead of our major trading partners (China, USA, South East Asia) or we will make Australian manufacturing less competitive,” she said. The Climate Institute report states that farmers and most food businesses will not be affected by the CPRS and will therefore be only indirectly exposed to the carbon price. Ms Carnell challenged the Institute to provide the evidence for this statement.
“We know agriculture will not be covered by the proposed CPRS but the inputs to farming such as chemicals, feed, fertiliser and fencing will all be hit with an extra cost. “The cost of power, which is expected to increase by 30 - 40 per cent as a result of the CPRS and renewable energy targets, will affect everything along the supply chain – and those cost increases will flow through onto the supermarket shelves. “These all reduce the ability of Australian producers to compete with imports. The Government must deliver a global deal that doesn’t mean Australian industry will be disadvantaged in global markets. Australian manufacturers are competing directly on supermarket shelves with factories in countries such as China that are not likely to have a carbon cost. “We support the Prime Minister’s stated position that Australia should ‘do no more and no less than other advanced economies’,” Ms Carnell said.
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More information: Jo Thomas, AFGC Director Corporate Affairs 0417 667 169
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