Tony takes time out

It was somewhat of a relief that I read this morning that Tony Abbott is to take an extended break.

In his absence, deputy leader of the federal Liberal party Julie Bishop and Nationals head Warren Truss will lead the opposition, Mr Abbott said in a statement.

“The Hon Julie Bishop and the Hon Warren Truss will … Continue the campaign against the Prime Minister’s carbon tax,” he said.

First impression is “don’t hurry back Tony”. Second impression is that this will be interesting – I wonder how much the Hon J. Bishop knows about the science of climate change.

And then we have Warren Truss’s Nationals who fear farmland will be swamped by trees.

THE Coalition has refused immediate support for the government’s carbon farming bill because it fears farmland will be consumed by forests, but the timber industry says Tony Abbott’s Direct Action plan would require up to 600,000 hectares of cleared agricultural land to be converted to plantations. Its estimate is based on calculations from the National Association of Forest Industries. That organisation’s chief executive, Allan Hansard, told the Herald the Coalition plan would require between 300,000 and 600,000 hectares of already cleared agricultural land to be planted with trees by the end of the decade.

Calculations by the Department of Climate Change suggest the land area needed to achieve the Coalition’s goal could be 10 times that estimate.

Are there any suggestions as to what Tony Abbott might like to do during his time-out.

As Abbott “hit back” yesterday, dismissing the government’s use of Mr Cameron’s letter back the carbon tax as a “cultural cringe to the old country” – perhaps a trip back to the old country.