Mercury (Hobart)

BARNABY’S RIGHT

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I DID not imagine I would be put in circumstan­ces where I would choose to defend comments by Barnaby Joyce, but the derisive comments from reader Jim Heys are misplaced. Barnaby was correct in asserting, firstly, that urban dwellers, not land owners, are primarily responsibl­e for carbon emissions that have caused atmospheri­c warming, and, secondly, that despite this, the farming community has copped most of the blame by urban legislator­s to the point where they impose severe legal action on land owners who try to convert their land to farm production.

Barnaby’s view is that if a farmer’s forested land is so valuable in mitigating against the release of carbon into the atmosphere, then they who cause global warming should be paying an equivalent agricultur­al return to land owners for retaining and properly managing their land, rather than punishing them for trying to seek a return from their investment.

Tim Payne Mt Stuart

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