Nationals MP Adam Marshall bucks party line on net zero

NSW Agriculture Minister and Nationals MP Adam Marshall has split from his federal counterparts on net zero targets.

NSW Agriculture Minister and Nationals MP Adam Marshall. Picture: Jeremy Piper

NSW Agriculture Minister and Nationals MP Adam Marshall has split from his federal counterparts on net-zero targets, saying “agriculture needs to be front and centre” and not excluded from any plan to reduce emissions by 2050.

Federal Nationals, including Michael McCormack, Barnaby Joyce and Bridget McKenzie, have previously called for agriculture to be carved out of any plan to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.

Mr Marshall on Tuesday took a swipe at that suggestion, saying that excluding farmers from emissions reduction policies would be akin to cutting off the party’s political nose to spite its face. “Ring-fencing farmers from net-zero is nothing but political point-scoring based on the needs of those who think in timelines that are based on their political needs, not the future of agriculture,” he said.

Scott Morrison has not committed Australia to a net-zero target, but says his preference is to achieve the goal by 2050 — an ­objective that risks fuelling unrest within the Nationals and conservative ranks of the Liberal Party.

Nationals MP Ken O’Dowd also weighed in on the net-zero target on Tuesday, saying reaching the goal would come at a great cost to his Queensland electorate of Flynn. “They are not willing to risk losing their jobs just in search of an economically and socially devastating emissions reduction policy,” he said.

Mr Marshall said excluding agriculture could have a devastating impact on farmers as he backed the calls of the NSW Farmers Association and the Nat­ional Farmers Federation to support the industry being included in any debate as the ­nation forges a pathway to 2050.

“Let’s get the modelling and the policy right by keeping farmers solidly in play rather than spending 29 years in no-man’s land, when the people who called the loudest for farming to be excluded from the future have long since retired,” Mr Marshall said in a statement.

The Australian reported this month that trade-exposed emissions-intensive industries, including farming, were likely to be carved out from targets, with the Deputy Prime Minister saying a carve-out was needed as part of any net-zero policy. It came after key members of his partyroom said they would not support any climate package that failed to include protections for agriculture, mining and manufacturing.

The Prime Minister has pledged to achieve the net-zero emissions objective by deploying technologies rather than taxes.

The opposition’s agriculture spokeswoman, Julie Collins, said Australian farmers were some of the most innovative and entrepreneurial in the world. “They want to be part of the solution to climate change, not left out and left behind,” she said.