Bill’s zero carbon target

TASMANIA could adopt a target of net zero carbon emissions by 2040 under legislation to be presented to state parliament this year.

Independent MP for Clark Madeleine Ogilvie said her plans to introduce a law which would require Tasmania to introduce much tougher new climate targets have been well received.

Tasmania already has a Climate Change Action Plan and leads the nation on electricity emissions because of its reliance on hydro-electric power generation.

Ms Ogilvie said she hoped to start an urgent discussion about climate change.

“Now is the right time to talk about climate change — for obvious reasons,” she said.

“It’s such an important topic, everyone has a view and everyone wants to be heard.

“Our existing Climate Change Act, which is a 2008 Act, is past its use-by-date and it’s in desperate need of a refresh and reinvigoration.”

She said she hoped that Labor and the Greens would get behind her Bill and said she was keen to have talks with the new Liberal leader.

“I’m hopeful of having talks with the new Premier to see how we can bring on this Bill and what we can achieve.”

Ms Ogilvie said Tasmania had a chance to become one of the world’s leading jurisdictions when it came to climate change through harnessing local scientific expertise.

Premier Will Hodgman last week said he was proud of the state Liberal party’s performance on climate change and the state’s contribution to carbon emission reduction.

“Our government has taken a strong position in developing a Climate Action Plan with a number of very practical initiatives to support not only all levels of government, industry and business but also households to play their part,” he said.

“We are fast advancing Tasmania’s renewable energy status to be the nation’s renewable energy state: 100 per cent renewable by 2022 to make sure that Tasmania reduces its emissions impact and that’s a wonderful position for Tasmania.

“It doesn’t happen by accident, it requires dedicated effort across community and by government, but the I think there’s an increasingly important role for Tasmania to play in the national debate, where we see these horrific fires occurring interstate.”

“We can play an increasingly important role in being that renewable energy powerhouse for the nation and reduce carbon emissions nationally.”

Greens Climate Change spokeswoman Rosalie Woodruff said the Government should protect the 356,000 hectares of high-conservation forest that is set to be made available for logging in April.

“It’s a critical part of Tasmania having low carbon emissions at the moment, the forests that we have,” she said.

“We can’t afford to lose forests by logging them, we have to do everything we can to keep carbon in the ground and reduce the emissions.”