Labor Minister Mike Kelly defends 'alarmist' climate change remarks

CLIMATE change may be a big issue in Eden-Monaro, but sitting MP Mike Kelly has been criticised for using alarmist language in his campaigning.

Mike Kelly defends climate remarks

LABOR Minister Mike Kelly has claimed that abolishing the carbon tax would turn the Snowy Mountains into the “Sandy Mountains”, the Sapphire Coast into the “Saline Coast” and the Bega Valley into “Death Valley”.

The Eden-Monaro MP yesterday denied his comments defending the Clean Energy Future package were alarmist, saying they would be the long-term climate change impacts for tourism and agricultural industries in his NSW electorate.

But as Labor battles to explain the deeply unpopular carbon tax to voters, opposition climate spokesman Greg Hunt said the government’s scare campaign had plunged to “new lows”.

What we need is a sensible and thought-through debate about the policy challenges ahead, not these extreme comments,” he said.

Dr Kelly, anointed by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd as the next defence minister if Labor is re-elected, made the comments during a debate in his marginal NSW seat.

“We won’t be competing in the region and the suffering we will have inflicted on ourselves through not dealing with climate change will turn the Bega Valley into the Death Valley, the Sapphire Coast into the Saline Coast and the Snowy Mountains into the Sandy Mountains,’’ Dr Kelly said at the Narooma Chamber of Commerce on Friday.

His comments come after The Daily Telegraph revealed last year that every NSW town visited by Climate Commissioner Tim Flannery or his colleagues had been told at forums they were in a “drying trend” before being deluged by up to three times the annual rainfall.

In 2011, fellow minister Tanya Plibersek was dubbed the “Minister for Doomsday” after several bold climate claims including that Australians would not be able to “feed ourselves” as Labor tried to sell its climate change policy.

The Climate Commission’s report, The Critical Decade 2013, said “although there is much variability from year to year, the overall downward trend in snow depth in the Snowy Mountains is clear”.

It pointed to a graph showing snow amounts dropped by more than half between 1950 and 2010, saying a 93 per cent loss by 2050 was possible while a worse-case scenario was a complete loss by the end of the century.

The report also warned of rising ocean acidification in the Southern Ocean and of larger sea-level rise impacts for coastal communities than cities as they could not adapt as easy.

In agriculture, rising temperatures would cause heat stress for cattle, reducing beef productivity, milk production and leading to possible deaths.

The report predicted an average temperature rise in Sydney, just north of Eden-Monaro, of between 0.6°C and 1.3°C by 2030 compared to 1990 levels.

Dr Kelly yesterday said that the snow would disappear with two to four degree temperature rises in coming decades and six degrees over the course of the century.

“My family are all dairy farmers and they came very close to walking off the land over the last drought and I saw their pain and their problems and those throughout the region,” he said.

“It’s not exaggerated. You can imagine the mental stress of being the break in the chain in that proud family history.”

Salinity on coastal farms was also a threat, he said, while ski operators at Perisher relied on snow for tourism.

The carbon tax is a big issue in the Eden-Monaro electorate, with Opposition Leader Tony Abbott routinely using businesses in Queanbeyan to visit from nearby Canberra.

Liberal candidate Peter Hendy declined to comment on the claims but Mr Hunt said they were “extreme”.

“Labor’s negative and scare campaign has hit new lows,” Mr Hunt said.

“If Mike Kelly is so concerned why is he supporting the Carbon Tax when it sees emissions increase in Australia from 560 million to 637 million tonnes.”