Why Ending Native Forest Logging Delivers Far Greater Public Value Than
Funding Short‑Term Carbon Schemes
“Why should the Federal Government incentivise foreign companies to buy
up agricultural land in Tasmania for carbon credits?” Primary Industries
Minister Gavin Pearce asked at a recent media conference, responding to the
Clean Energy Finance Corporation’s backing of the reported purchase of the
22,000‑hectare Rushy Lagoon property in the state’s northeast.
Why indeed?
It is a fair question — but it is also a revealing one. Because the Commonwealth has been intervening in markets for years. Sometimes with good results, sometimes with questionable ones, and sometimes with consequences that only become clear long after the policy has been abandoned.
