9. Question No. 9—AgricultureMARK CAMERON (ACT) to the Minister of AgricultureQuestion No. 9—Agriculture9. MARK CAMERON (ACT) to the Minister of Agriculture: What official discussions if any has he had with his ministerial colleagues about a levy on nitrogen fertiliser used in agriculture and what advice by date and title if any has he received about a levy on nitrogen fertiliser used in agriculture?Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR (Minister of Agriculture): This Government is committed to pricing agricultural emissions. Global trends and consumer expectations are changing and it is imperative that we continue to lift our sustainability credentials and futureproof our export growth. The use of nitrogen fertiliser on farm and associated nitrous oxide is something we have always been looking at. It was in the He Waka Eke Noa partnerships proposal. It was in the Government's consultation document. It was in Pricing agricultural emissions: Report under section 215 of the Climate Change Response Act 2002. I've had ongoing discussions about a range of options for nitrogen fertiliser with various ministerial colleagues partners from the He Waka Eke Noa partnership and from my officials and those discussions have been supported by advice and briefings from officials a large number of which are publicly available online.Mark Cameron: Point of order Mr Speaker. There were two legs to that question and I seek your clarity and guidance if I may. The question was on notice about the dates and titles of advice he received. He didn't provide that information in his answer.SPEAKER: I'll give the member an extra question and he can ask further questions to try and find out.David Seymour: Point of order. The ACT caucus is very grateful for that additional supplementary question. However I just do raise with you that quite often a Minister gives an answer that is very unsatisfactory and you say Well you can have more supplementary questions." but I do question what is the point of having more supplementary questions if they never actually answer one. You just end up getting the same result more often.SPEAKER: Yeah and as you can imagine sometimes it's difficult presiding and deciding against whether the Minister has answered or not in that moment. I'm not absolutely 100 percent sure that he didn't but I'm giving the member an extra question anyway. I mean I could have said "Well yes it has been addressed." I've decided to err on the side that the member can explore further. That's the reason why I've done it this way.Mark Cameron: Has he asked for advice about what the average cost per hectare on any tax on nitrogen fertiliser will be for the average vegetable grower and/or dairy farmer; if not why not?Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR: I have asked for that at a different range of carbon prices and different scientific calculations. There is a whole range and I'm sure it will be available for the member when he wants to inquire.Mark Cameron: Will the Government remove barriers to technology that allow farmers to reduce their nitrogen footprint before it tries to introduce a fertiliser tax?Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR: We have no proposal to introduce a fertiliser tax. What I discussed with a number of partners from across the sectors was the dilemma that we face is that if we are to continue and thanks to the Minister of Finance and Budget 2022 we put a billion dollars—a billion dollars—into the agricultural sector $338 million of which went into research for agricultural emissions. But if we are to continue to put investment into R & D and then to support farmers with the uptake of that R & D we need to generate some revenue. The generosity of the taxpayer can't continue forever. And we have in the 1980s actually removed subsidies from agriculture and farmers are quite proud of that. So the discussion I had with some industry leaders was: did they think that a levy on nitrogenous fertilisers was a good way of raising revenue to pay for the research and development and the assistance that might be needed for the uptake of technology when it was discovered?Mark Cameron: Has he asked for any advice on the likely impact the tax on nitrogen fertiliser will have on the cost of living; if not why not?Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR: Not directly. Can I point to the average price of urea: over the past two years it's gone from about $500 to $600 a tonne up to $1400 a tonne and farmers and growers have had to continue to pay for that. That wasn't sustainable. It's now dropped back down to about $900 a tonne and it may come back down further. The idea of a levy that would have contributed to money for research and development was my idea of a possible good investment. The industry leaders have come back to me and said they don't like that. We now have to sit down and work on the best way forward of following through with He Waka Eke Noa but dealing with the dilemma that they don't want to pay anything until they've worked out the full analysis of sequestration options. That will take some time. It will take more research and development. The issue is who will pay for that.Mark Cameron: Will he now rule out a tax on urea; if not why not?Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR: There has been no considerate comprehensive consideration of this by Government or by Ministers at all. I've had brief discussions with sector leaders; they've indicated that they don't want to proceed with that. The question I have is whether I should then bother to put that proposal up to my colleagues. I probably think not but I'm not going to rule anything in or out here and now."