This doesn't strike me as paranoid at all. It seems very rational to discuss what will happen with tens of millions of climate refugees.

No, this sounds like plain old racism. After all, Florida will be gone, too. He doesn't seem to be concerned about being overwhelmed by Floridians. I guess he would just like the Asian folk to drown or starve.

I live in Vancouver, BC. Just downhill is Richmond, where nearly a million people, a high percentage of which are Asian, live. Richmond will be entirely inundated by six feet of water. So far, no one is talking about what Vancouver will do with a million climate refugees. Sadly, I bet we will hear some thinly veiled racism coming out as the water rises.

funny...I didn't catch the racism slant on this at all.

But the fact remains that many countries will be faced with expanding populations -- both to house and to feed as the water rises. It is a dilemma. I read that New Zealand plans to welcome a number of people from surrounding islands as the water takes over their land.

I didn't hear any racism. But such a comment is definitely paranoia.

I saw the TV show in question.

It was about the affect of global warning of Australian food production. The latest reports, released here this week, talked about drying in the continent's food bowl (The Marray Basin).

Sen. Heffernan's comments where in the context the need to at least continue current food production levels to:

1 - feed the Australian population and
2 - continue to export food.

The senator was warning that rising sea levels could make millions of Asian people homeless & short of food. That Australia should endeavour to continue to feed far above its domestic population by developing the North without the mistakes made in the South.

The second half of the program was devoted to the best ecologically sound methods that could be used in the North.

Sen Heffernan is a Liberal (centre-right) and a farmer from south eastern Australia (The Murray Basin).

Apart from the fact that a lot of the north of Australia will also be inundated by rising sea levels there is one other small problem with Heffernans ideas.
The soils are generally poor in Australia, and more so in highly leaching environments like the tropical north in areas substantially devoid of mountain building processes and volcanism. And because of the generally low relief, when it does rain, it floods.
Heffernan has and will use any divisive tactic http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2002/s503843.htm

Ah, good old Heffernan - you can always rely on him for some offensive statements as soon as he gets near the media.

I agree with Ruben, this is racism - Heffernan is anti-immigration, so it figures that the first thing to get him worried about CC is the thought of brown people coming here.

We do need to think about the consequences of climate change on populations - but New Zealand is leading the way in this region, while Australia continues to stick it's head in the sand. Panic won't help, but cutting pollution might.

The above quotes are quotes from the NZ newspaper article, not quotes of Heffernan from last night show. How much is written and spin to sell newspapers, after all, that one of the reason to come here to read stuff.

The transcript are up on the web now. This is not a full transcript. I'm sure mosaic farming got mention near the end of the show, but I can't find it in the text.

Heffernan made two comment that specifically referenced China. Remember this is in the Australian context. China & India are both close & major immigration sources. Florida, London & Paris are half a world away. When ever I hear about Global Warming stuff, I ask, what that mean to China & India. It will be China & India that decide how far over 450 ppm CO2 we will end up going!

The first is the one I referred to above.

SENATOR BILL HEFFERNAN, CHAIR, NORTHERN AUSTRALIA TASKFORCE and LIBERAL SENATOR FOR NSW: There's no question in my view that the price of food will rise. But we will cope. The answer to your preliminary question is, of course we'll feed ourselves and of course technology will enable us to do that. When I grew up, a tonne to the acre was a fair thing for a wheat crop. Three tonne to the acre with a lot less rainfall is possible now. I guess as long as we accept that we've got to found all that on science, as long as we accept that certainly genetically modified technology is part of the future, of course we'll feed ourselves and what's more we'll help to feed those parts of the globe that are not capable or won't be capable, given than in China, for instance, 30% of their production could be lost with a 20-inch rise in the sea water. They'll lose 30% of their production.

SENATOR BILL HEFFERNAN: I have to say three or four years ago I said that any 50-year plan for the Murray-Darling Basin, which is seriously over-allocated, would probably mean that furrow cotton and paddy rice would be a thing of the past in a 50-year plan, not because of, necessarily, the vagary of the science but the marketed work in water - I mean, dairy farmers now are struggling to pay for their water. Funnily enough Australians are prepared to buy bottled China's water with a map of Australia on it and a kangaroo on the map, which is bottled in China; it comes into Australia for $0.38 and retails for between $1.85 and $2.50, but they're only prepared to pay $1.20 for a bottle of milk, so that prices them out of the market. And I have to say what we're facing up to if we're facing between 35 and 11,000 gigalitres, given the vagary of the science reduction of the runoff in the Murray-Darling Basin, obviously, we're going to have to change the way we farm, the technology of farming, we've got to go to root-zone take, get away from the more expansive under-valued water users, and obviously look at new markets and new areas and new opportunities and obviously that's what we're on about in the north.

I don't like him reliance on GMOs.

The guys a real farmer, and as a real polly, gets to see lots of things. I wouldn't accept or reject his views any more than any other federal senator.

Lots of generalisation flying around. I don't think I'ld say being anti-immigration make you racist. Or the one characteristic of land automatically makes it useless to all forms of farming. One man's desert is another man's Olive grove.

There is not such thing as marginal land, only marginal land uses.

My mistake, the NZ Herald story is based on a Bulletin story, not the ABC TV program.

Pity the Bulletin story isn't online, guess they got hard copy to sell

Teaser here.

Heffernan denies the Bulletin quotes, and the Bulletin stands by them. See here and here.

The senator does talk about bio security issues on Difference of Option.

Speaking as someone raised in a summer rainfall farming district in Australia. I find it depressing that southerners and city people are quite willing to enforce draconian environmental laws that stifle planning and the introduction of new practices and innovation. There has got to be a better balance than this.

How do you stop another Cubbie Station without killing innovation on the small.

I spent part of the late Christmas holidays reading the 'Code for self-assessable development for taking overland flow water for stock and domestic purposes' and the 'Code for self-assessable development for taking overland flow water using small scale storages'. Personally, I find the use of 'taking' in the title to be rude. Sounds like you're taking government water, not catching your own rainfall. The codes still don't work. I understand the version 3 is currently on the legal drawing board at the moment.

Why develop an ultra long fellow system (like is used in tropical PNG), when you risk the whole thing being classes at remnant vegetation and 'protected'.

Look at all the problems that Peter Andrews had trialing Natural Sequence Farming.

The laws that Peter fought and cost him so much (financial ruin, marriage breakdown and child suicide) still exist and are enforced. Peter only got special dispensation due to his public profile (from the Australian Story coverage). If you're not Peter, there is still all the old bureaucracies to fight.

Its hard watch farming districts die. Any polly who fights for these reforms has my support, not matter how conservative or radical his social views are.

Rant ends ;)