Voters in southern New South Wales might want to consider the impact of net zero policies on employment in their farming communities, according to one think-tank after it released its analysis on Tuesday.
The south western electorate of Murray held by independent Helen Dalton, and southern seat of Cootamundra held by emergency services minister and Nationals MP Steph Cooke, are among 5 flagged to feel the brunt of job losses due to the Coalition and Labor opposition's respective policies on greenhouse gas reductions. The top ten lower house seats at risk for job losses were all in rural and regional areas.
The Institute of Public Affairs' Daniel Wild said on Tuesday:
"Many regional communities face the risk of being wiped out as local industries they rely on for employment, and the rest of the country relies on for energy and food, are to be destroyed due to reckless emission reduction mandates."
NSW Farmers industrial relations spokesman Chris Stillard said farmers were doing their best to reduce emissions, but were hamstrung by technology:
"For example, diesel remains the only commercially viable fuel for food and fibre production, and for transporting that produce to consumers.
“At the end of the day, every Australian needs farmers to grow their food, and we cannot risk lazy policies that threaten production."
The farming association highlighted in the IPA's research that perversely, oil and gas extraction contribute 8 times the emissions that farming does, yet the IPA predicted agriculture would lose over 63,000 jobs and coal mining 20,000.