Farmland Sold for Carbon Credits Risks Food Security

Ajouté : 2026-05-06

[00:00:00]I think we've all learned about fuel security in the past couple of months as we've just discussed. The headlong rush to renewables means this government took their eye off the ball and the previous government, the Liberal government as well.

[00:00:14]Diesel drives this country whether we like it or not.

[00:00:18]And we've left our farmers and our trucking industry stranded.

[00:00:22]But you know what? It's happening again and this time it's food security on the line. This is so important this story. A major cattle farm in Tasmania which has been producing prime beef for domestic and export since the late '60s is up for sale.

[00:00:38]And of course a foreign investment company is the top bidder.

[00:00:42]But not an agriculture company. The top bidder and they bid 30 million more than the others mind you is a carbon credits company.

[00:00:51]This is their specialty.

[00:00:54]It looks like the plan is to send the cattle off to market and plant the entire property with pine trees because it's more lucrative to farm carbon credits than cattle.

[00:01:07]Can you see what this means to what we produce in this country?

[00:01:12]We've made it more lucrative to buy farms, stick pine trees on them for carbon credits.

[00:01:20]One Nation's Lee Hanson lives in Tasmania and brought this to our attention this week. She's on the line now. Thank you very much for your time, Lee.

[00:01:29]Morning, Chris. How are you?

[00:01:30]>> I'm very very well. Last time we spoke was in the election campaign. How close did you get by the way?

[00:01:39]Um look, I did get close um Chris, but to be honest um look, I just missed out, but I'm a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. I had a very short 4-week uh campaign. It was my first time campaigning and um like I explained to my mother when you know, she was disappointed, but as I said to mom, look, everything happens for a reason because now I can fully get immersed, build my knowledge and experience and focus on Tassie and getting the party registered in Tassie and the branches up and running and it's been fantastic and I haven't stopped since, Chris.

[00:02:11]>> You will emerge. You will emerge from the um from the engine room of One Nation to be one of the leading lights down the track. Don't worry about that. Okay, so tell me about this cattle property. It's in northeast Tasmania and it's an agricultural gem, right?

[00:02:27]It is a beautiful property. Um it's called Rushy Lagoon, right? So when I heard about this, I was just furious and and absolutely flabbergasted by the stupidity of our Labor government here [clears throat] in Australia. So Rushy Lagoon is Tasmania's largest farm. So it's 22,000 hectares or 54,000 acres roughly.

[00:02:48]>> Wow. It produces beef. It's a prime producer for um milk dairy for Fonterra, um crops, sheep and it's it's actually one of Australia's largest farms. But the reality is that that's now under threat. So this property's been up for sale since 2014 and what we've um since learned and what we understand is the top bidder as you said is a UK-based forestry investment firm. And this is what makes me so angry. So the plan appears that they're going to repurpose our biggest agricultural property here in Tasmania into pine plantations for carbon credits all in the pursuit of this absolute crazy net zero fantasy that our government has shoved down our throats.

[00:03:33]So compounding that when we know we have a fuel crisis which is already impacting on food security, why on earth would you destroy prime agricultural land for an overseas company for carbon credits?

[00:03:47]>> Wow. Now this is valued at 80 million.

[00:03:49]What did they pay for this? What are they prepared to pay for this?

[00:03:52]So the market rate for where other local agricultural businesses um bid for around 70 80 million dollars for the market comparison.

[00:04:01]>> Right.

[00:04:01]>> [snorts] >> So this um British foreign investment firm actually their bid is um about 100 million dollars which you've got to ask some questions, right? How and this is where we've been calling for transparency.

[00:04:16]How is the bid so much larger than the market rate and what other agricultural bidders are willing to pay? So the question is has this been topped up by our taxpayer dollars in subsidies so that they can tick the box and achieve the Australian's net zero agenda.

[00:04:35]>> So we must have made the situation more economically viable to buy a property like this, put pine trees on it, make it agriculturally bland and barren because of government subsidies. And and so therefore they wouldn't be the only firm looking at that opportunity.

[00:04:53]Of course they're not. There would be other situations across Australia and I can guarantee it this is happening. This is the biggest one in Tassie that I'm aware of, but it goes beyond this, right? So what they're looking at getting from from what I've been informed by the local community and TasFarmers, what they're looking at planting is what I don't know if you've heard of them, they're radiata pines. So the craziness of this is down in Tasmania, our Parks and Wildlife actually poison radiata pines because they um they grow they're called they're considered a weed species or an aggressive invasive species.

[00:05:29]>> Right, so they ruin the soil, right?

[00:05:32]And they destroy the soil. So not only do they um cause hazard to native bushland and threaten the ecosystem, but they actually destroy the soil for up to a decade if it's not managed and if it's not um you know, it it it's an enormous amount of effort and financial um investment to get it back even if we plan to convert this back to agricultural land. So they're destroying any future of agricultural prosperity out of this farm.

[00:05:59]>> If we have made it more attractive to buy land for carbon credits than buying land for growing food, we are in big trouble in this country. Stay right there, Lee. I've got one of our listeners who phones quite regularly and he understands this issue intimately.

[00:06:15]Anthony, go ahead.

[00:06:17]Thanks, mate. Thanks for that high praise, but listen, you're uh I've forgotten it, Lisa.

[00:06:22]>> Lee Lee Hanson.

[00:06:24]Lee Hanson. Hi, Lee. In 2011 in the Northern Territory, a huge farm called Henbury Station or Henbury Station uh was sold above market for 13 million.

[00:06:36]It was valued at about 10 or 11 million.

[00:06:38]9 million of that purchase price was a federal government grant and it was turned over it was sold to uh who was it? RM Williams Agricultural Holdings for 13 million to become a carbon farm.

[00:06:51]>> Yeah.

[00:06:52]So this has been going on for a hell of a long time this nonsense where uh productive farms are given over for this nonsense about boiling which we all know is is an absolute joke and is killing this country, but it's been going on for a long time. Henbury Station in the Northern Territory back in 2011 sold above market with a 9 million federal government grant to be turned in for a carbon farm. It collapsed a couple of years later and was then on sold.

[00:07:21]It's back uh now being run as a normal farm. It was resold a couple of years later for a bit over 8 million. So there was huge losses all round for this nonsense. Uh but we the taxpayer paid for it, of course.

[00:07:33]>> Yeah, Anthony, thank you very much for that backgrounder and from another jurisdiction. So Lee Hanson, what do we need to do? We need to protect arable land, don't we somehow?

[00:07:42]Oh, 100%. It breaks my heart. I I I just I cannot understand the agenda. We need it's simple, right? You do not allow Australian agricultural land to be purchased by overseas investors and destroyed. It just we have to put Australians and Australia first.

[00:07:57]>> But what if local what if local investors get the same um attractive subsidies to do the same thing to arable land where they are?

[00:08:07]Correct. So if you bother So this the Rushy Lagoon, it's currently awaiting final um decision cuz it's sitting with the Foreign Investment Board. This is where we're calling for transparency.

[00:08:18]Why does the community or Australians not have the option if this is being a a grant to being topped up the sale price, as an Australian, we should I would rather invest that money for um an Australian investor to keep it as agricultural land. Where is the priorities for our land? Where is the priorities for our future? Um you know, >> But but we are sacrificing precious fauna and flora in this country for the sake of wind farms, solar farms, transmission lines. They don't give a stuff and they don't give a stuff either when it comes to carbon credits because it's all about saving the planet and everything else needs to get out of the way.

[00:08:57]Correct. And the the agenda for Tasmania, we are seeing it hit us hard down here now. Transmission lines are gutting us through our state. We've got wind turbines, solar factories popping up all around the state. The environmental impact, the community impact and it's all to pump um this net zero energy over to the mainland at the cost of Tasmania increasing our prices with long-term damage to our state. It is disgusting.

[00:09:25]>> can have fabulous renewable energy at midday. So we can have fabulous renewable energy at midday. Look, this is a big story. You need to get the word out on this because it's a big story and we've got to go in and protect our arable land. Thank you, Lee Hanson for raising it. I much appreciate it.

[00:09:40]Thanks, Chris. Have a great day.

[00:09:42]>> Good on you. Thank you. Lee Hanson from One Nation. Authorized by Pauline Hanson, 12 Baronia Road, Brisbane.