Tony Kelly informed the NSW Upper House yesterday that the Government is “leading Australia in mandating the use of ethanol in petrol”.
Oxfam’s report on biofuels released today is critical of developed countries mandating production of fuel from food feedstocks. The report says such policies “have dragged more than 30 million extra people into poverty”.
“One man’s ‘leadership’, is another man’s recipe for pushing 30 million people into poverty. Oxfam are urging Kevin Rudd’s Government not to follow the lead of NSW and reject mandates for biofuels,” said Upper House Greens MP Ian Cohen.
“Real leadership means taking immediate measures to fast-track efficient public transport. In tandem with this, we need policies that favour second generation biofuels that do not draw on food supplies for their feedstock. We also need fuel standards that favour fuels with a low carbon footprint.
“Whilst it is perfectly reasonable to produce some ethanol from waste products, there is already evidence that even with the 2 per cent ethanol mandate currently in force in NSW, wholegrain wheat is being diverted from the food supply into ethanol production.
“The NSW Government has said that it plans to up the mandate from 2 to 10 per cent. This is reckless policy making that ignores the advice of the Government’s own taskforce on ethanol.
“One of their key recommendations was that there should be a review of the 2 per cent mandate after the first year of operation, precisely because of issues like those raised in the Oxfam report.
“The grain guzzling projects being groomed by Tony Kelly are set to consume millions of tonnes of grain at a time when the pressure on food prices is enormous.
“Oxfam point out that the emissions from global land-use change caused by the US corn ethanol push ‘will take 167 years to pay back’. Our Government must commit to a comprehensive review of the 2 per cent mandate before taking NSW down the same path as the US,” said Mr Cohen.
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