Roundtable
discussion with Greg Hunt MP
Federal Shadow
Minister for Climate Change, Environment and Water
Wed 4 November,
1.30pm, Anglesea RSL
Liberal Party members also present :
· Michael
Ronaldson – Liberal Senator for Victoria
· Sarah
Henderson – Liberal Candidate for Corangamite (parts of Geelong, Surf Coast,
Bellarine, Apollo Bay, Winchelsea etc) :
This was a roundtable discussion with about 20
representatives of environmental organizations in the Surf Coast region. There
had been a similar meeting held in Apollo Bay in the morning.
Greg and Michael spoke at the start but the main focus was
on listening to the concerns of the representatives in the room. It was quite a
consultative forum. Greg was clear about the focus – to hear people’s concerns
and listen to possible solutions. He was fairly pragmatic about it – he was
happy to get the best local ideas and then use them as part of their platform
if that was mutually beneficial. Greg was facilitating but the meeting was
really to assist Sarah Henderson, the local candidate.
There were a large number of representatives in the room and
I have forgotten who most of them were. Some people represented small scale
local issues (eg a local creek) and others wanted to talk big picture (climate
change, renewable energy visions).
There was some discussion about climate change / renewable
energy :
· I
made the point that Geelong Sustainability Group is trying to focus on positive
solutions and visions for the future. The Geelong / Surf Coast region could
showcase the best of renewable futures.
·
We could make wind turbines, solar panels etc in
Geelong. Geelong has the manufacturing base and the technical expertise (Deakin
University etc) to do so
·
At various places on the Surf Coast there are options
for wind power, solar, tidal, wave power and geothermal.
· However
that future will not be realised if both major parties continue to distort the
ETS (Emissions trading) process. The original idea, if there was one, of the
ETS was to set a price on carbon which would provide an incentive to change
away from old polluting industries and provide funds to help develop the
renewable future. The special treatment that both major parties are arguing
that the coal and mining sectors receive will completely nullify the ETS – the
enormous compensation will mean that there is no incentive for them to change,
and no many left for anything else.
· Greg
did not respond directly to this. His approach to climate change was basically:
·
Happy to talk about a 25 per cent emissions reduction
target
·
A few times he talked about what he and Malcolm
thought. He didn’t mention the party room as a whole.
·
He was happy to support the idea of renewable energy.
He wanted local input on this. His contention was that the electricity industry
takes a long time to change, but action needed to be taken.
·
He was very happy to seize upon any ideas that revolved
around carbon reductions from tree growth, biochar etc. He sees this as the big
area where Australia can make substantial changes quickly. He is also very keen
to see forestry and land use included as part of the next Kyoto agreement (and
bushfires?)
·
It was pointed out that many international forestry
offsets are of dubious authenticity, and that much vegetation planted in
Australia may not necessarily survive under the new climate regime (more
frequent bushfires, droughts etc). This wasn’t dwelled upon.
·
There was quite a good link between climate change and
many of the land care / farming representatives who were looking at more
sustainable farming methods (looking after soil, farm forestry etc)
·
Outcome : Dave Campbell from Geelong Sustainability
Group and Caroline Hawkins from Surf Coast Energy Group asked to write a vision
for renewable energy in the Geelong / Surf Coast region. It could be called the
Clean Energy Coast (apart from a brown coal fired power station in Anglesea!)
The majority of the round table discussion centred around
land management and local landcare groups. I was not familiar with the
intricacies of this area. Some themes that emerged seemed to be (this may not
be completely accurate) :
· There
has been a general trend over a number of years for groups dealing with
government to meet accountability / accounting requirements. While this is fine
in principle, small landcare groups do not always have people with the time and
expertise to fill in detailed funding and accountability submissions. They can
lose out to better resourced larger organizations
· Some
landcare groups have not done as well out of the current “Caring for Country”
scheme. There seems to be greater emphasis on national ‘top down’ priorities
and this does not always suit a local group who can’t fit into a specific
criteria
· Some
talk about funding for landcare co-ordinators being reduced. Landcare
co-ordinators spoken about very highly. Their ability to link with everyday
people and also negotiate the labryrinths of government organizations is vital.
· Outcome
: Peter Greig of Corangamite Catchment Management Authority asked to put in a
two page submission about the way that landcare could be better designed to
assist local groups!